


Orlando

by mintgreenandburgundy



Category: Falsettos - Lapine/Finn, The Book of Mormon - Parker/Stone/Lopez
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-03-19 17:21:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 36,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13709118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mintgreenandburgundy/pseuds/mintgreenandburgundy
Summary: A week after Marvin kicks Whizzer out of the house, Whizzer finally decides it's time to reach out to someone he hasn't talked to in a while hoping for help.Meanwhile, Kevin Price is finally in Orlando, with his best friend Arnold, Nabulungi, and Connor McKinley. When he gets a text from his brother, who he hasn't talked to other than the quick "happy birthday" on occasion or a quick "hey how are you" with a short response, he's of course concerned. He ends up traveling to pick up Whizzer, who he hasn't seen in person for at least a year. Of course, somehow a certain Connor McKinley ends up going with him to pick up his brother, who decides that he's going to get the two ex-mormons together.Whizzer decides it's time to restart, and he ends up going to Uganda with his brother, with occasional visits to the United States.When Whizzer gets a text from Marvin, he feels himself torn, and decides not to respond. They end up going to the U.S, and it's not until Jason texts to tell him he has a baseball game coming up, and would like him to come. Of course, Whizzer sees Marvin there at the game and they somehow end up back together.





	1. Hello, my name is...

Whizzer couldn’t believe Marvin kicked him out just for winning in chess. 

Okay, maybe he could.

That was the moment that he realized that maybe, he didn’t love Marvin.

Oh, but he was wrong. He knew deep down, of course he loved Marvin. 

He did the only thing he could think to do at the time. He took out his phone to make a call. 

It rang for a couple seconds before someone answered. “Hello?”

“Hey, Kevin, are we still on for coffee?”

“Uh… no? I mean… I’m not allowed to have coffee? I thought you knew- CONNOR SHUT UP. Sorry, he won’t- No. It was one time! Hang on, give me a second.” There was some shuffling on the other end of the line before Kevin answered again. “Are you okay?”

“I’m… I think I’m fine. But I just… i just got kicked out of the house.”

“What?! Okay. Give us a little bit, you can come here and stay for as long as you need.”

“I… thanks,”

“It’s no problem. Meet me at that one coffee place?” They both knew which one they were talking about. They couldn’t remember the name to save their lives but they knew the look. 

“Yeah, sure. Bring Connor if you want,” Whizzer teased at the end. 

“I… uh. I think it’d be best not… to?”

“Awww, does someone have a crush?”

“No!”

Whizzer hummed, trying not to laugh. “Okay. Just text me when you’re ready,” with that, they hung up. He ran a hand through his hair. He had nowhere to go, and could only hope Kevin would be able to give him a place to stay for a little bit. It was impossible to tell until they actually met up. He laughed a little, wondering who Connor was, and hoping he’d get to meet him soon- he was interested in finding out who Kevin kept company with, and who Whizzer was sure Kevin had a crush on. He wasn’t going to let the other man get hurt. He wondered how Kevin would react when he found out, when he finally took in, what had happened.

Whizzer sighed, running a hand through his hair again before grabbing his bag and starting on his way. He knew he’d have to find a way to get to a bus stop, or to borrow a car. He was considering the latter, but he wasn’t entirely sure.

Meanwhile, Kevin was trying to figure out how he even ended up in the situation he was in. He had dragged Arnold and Nabulungi to the United States with him, telling them that they “needed to go to Orlando! You don’t know what living is until you’ve been there!” 

Somehow, a certain Connor McKinley had ended up with them, so it was the four of them sharing two hotel rooms, with a wall between them, connected by a single door. With Whizzer added, it would be five people in two rooms, with only room for four.

Kevin sighed.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine,” he turned to smile at the other elder. Ex-Elder? He wasn’t entirely sure what their status was, but he was sure he wasn’t considered a Mormon elder anymore. 

“Are you sure?”

“I’m positive,”

“Who called?” Connor smiled as he asked, clearly curious.

“An old friend. Would it be okay if I picked him up? Wait… he. He got kicked out. Where was he? He has so many questions to answer once we get him.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Connor was concerned now.

“I’m fine, Whizzer might not be, not when I’m done with him, if he’s not not okay right now.”

“It’s going to be okay, you don’t need to beat him or anything,”

“You don’t… you’ll understand when you meet him. Oh, if he even thinks about trying any of that…”

“Trying what?”

“You’ll see. I promise.” Kevin wasn’t sure how to explain Whizzer to his friend. “I’m going to tell Arnold I’m going to be gone for a little bit, i should hopefully be back soon. Do you want to come with me?”

“Sure!” Connor jumped off the bed, nearly falling onto Kevin when he did so.

“Be careful,” Kevin smiled as he spoke. He helped Connor get upright before grabbing a jacket and his phone to text Arnold that they were leaving. “Wait. Shoot. We’re going to need another room, or we’re all going to have to share a bed. I mean, as long as you don’t… um.” Kevin started to stumble over his words as he was asking Connor about sleeping in the same bed.

“That’d be okay, if you’re okay with it. Or you and Whizzer… wait, is his name really Whizzer?”

“Yeah. No, his parents weren’t high when they named him. Please don’t ask about it.”

“Got it. But if you wanted, you and Whizzer could share the bed, and I could take the other one,”

“No, no! I mean. I’d be fine sharing a bed with you, if you… wanted. I’m not sharing a bed with Whizzer, though. And I uh… I don’t think you want to either.” Kevin mentally slapped himself. He had almost told Connor that he didn’t want to leave him with Whizzer alone in a bed. He might have been just a little scared that Whizzer would attempt to take the other man as his own boyfriend.

“Why not?”

“He… tends to end up everywhere. He… you’ll understand later. If there’s another person with him, they’re either kicked off the bed or cuddled half to death. There is no in between. The amount of times we had to share a bed… that’s not important, though.” 

“I mean, that doesn’t… what do you mean, ‘the amount of times we had to share a bed’? How… how did you meet Whizzer?”

“Oh, we’re… friends. No, no, we weren’t… you know, like that.” Kevin laughed awkwardly. “No. He’s my step brother.”

“Oh, that makes sense,”

“Yeah. I should warn you, he’s… a little… he’s different. He’s… i think he’ll like the sparkly pink vests.”

“Oh, good! I can make him one, too,”

Kevin shook his head, laughing a little. “You never cease to amaze me.”

Arnold chose that minute to come through the door. “Oh, good! You two are still here-“

“We’ll be back, we have to go pick someone up. We shouldn’t be too long, I don’t think, but if we’re not back tomorrow we’re fine. We’ll text you so you know nothing bad happened.”

“Oh… okay. Come back safely!”

“We will, see you later,” Kevin’s phone buzzed as he spoke. 

Hey, can you pick me up from Krispy Kreme? I’ll send you directions.

He sighed at the text. 

Yeah, sure. Give me a minute.

He put his phone in his coat pocket, reaching for Connor’s hand without thinking. When he had a grasp on the other man’s hand, he started to the door, making sure he had keys for the car they were renting and a key to the hotel room. He wasn’t paying any attention to Connor, not entirely realizing that they were holding hands as he opened the hotel room door and started on his way out.

Connor followed, trying not to think too far into the fact that their hands were touching, and made sure that the door was closed behind them. 

“How far away is he?”

“Oh my goodness. He… he’s got a lot of nerve.”

“What happened?”

“He’s… in Tennessee. How’d he get in Tennessee? You know what… we’re going to have to go to Tennessee.”

“How long will it be?”

“Straight through? I’ll have to see, give me a second,” Kevin sighed as he looked it up on his phone. “About ten hours.”

“We can do it. You drive five, I’ll drive five.”

“Connor, Honey, no. It’s ten hours-“

“He can drive some too, once we pick him up,” Connor chose to ignore the fact that Kevin called him Honey, fighting down that feeling in his chest and considering taking his hand out of Kevin’s. 

“I guess, I just… he's probably exhausted, and knowing him, he probably hasn’t gotten a good night’s sleep in a while. He could drive some, yeah, but I say we let him sleep some first. I don’t want to get in a wreck.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. Do you want me to drive first?”

“I can, if you want me to, it’s up to you though,” Kevin smiled at him softly, squeezing his hand just a little. 

“If you want to, you can go ahead,” Connor tried to hide his face, knowing it was going pink, and smiling a little himself. 

“Okay. I can drive for the first five hours,”

“Okay,” 

Kevin opened the passenger door for Connor before going around and opening the driver’s door and getting in, putting the keys in the ignition and gripping the steering wheel. 

Once he got out of the parking lot of the hotel, he subconsciously grabbed Connor’s hand again, but the other man made no complaint. The ride was silent at first, not awkward, but calming. 

Connor decided to say the first words. “So… what are we going to do when we’ve got Whizzer?”

“Honestly? I don’t know,” Kevin shook his head. “There’s not too much we can do. We’ll probably have to let him stay around for a little bit, we’re going back to Uganda soon, right?”

“Yeah. A week and a half, i think?”

“That sounds right. Would it be okay if he came back with us?”

“I mean… that’s another plane ticket. It’ll be expensive. If it’s what we need to do, though, I’m willing to do it,”

“Okay. Thanks, seriously. You’re… yeah. Thanks.”

Connor nodded. “Do you seriously think I should make him a vest?”

“You need to, he'd absolutely love one,”

“…I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not.”

“I’m being one hundred percent serious! He’d love one,”

“…alright,”

No declarations of love from either of them. Just a long car ride, with them stopping every so often to use the bathroom, get something to eat, or change drivers. 

When they finally saw the sign for Tennessee, they both nearly cheered. Kevin was on his third coffee, and was seriously considering getting another at the Krispy Kreme they were picking Whizzer up at. 

Kevin was thankful that they weren’t too far from their destination, which was Nashville. 

It was eight p.m. when they finally pulled into the parking lot of the Krispy Kreme, and Kevin was fidgety after the three coffees. He grabbed Connor’s hand before they walked into the restaurant, pulling him along. He looked around for Whizzer, and waved when he saw the other man. 

Whizzer gave a smile and a wave back. He look exhausted. 

Kevin dragged Connor with him to sit with Whizzer, sitting across from his relative and Connor next to him. 

“You don’t look too great. How long have you been out?”

“Not too long,” Whizzer took a sip of his drink. 

“How long?”

“Just a couple days. It’s not a big deal,”

“Exact numbers, please,”

“Anywhere from five days to a week.”

“Why didn’t you call sooner?”

“I was in New York.”

“Whizzer, if you needed help, you could’ve called,”

“It’s not a big deal. Is this Connor?”

“Uh… yeah. Whizzer, this is my… friend, Connor McKinley. Connor, this is my step brother, Whizzer Brown.”

“Hi,” Connor considered holding a hand out to shake, but decided against it. Whizzer nodded. 

“Hi, to you, too. Are you two…?”

“What? No! Why…?” Connor felt his face heat up at Whizzer’s question. 

“Just curious,” the other man smiled and began to hum a little bit. “I shouldn’t stick around too long, so don’t worry about me, okay? I just need a place to stay for a little bit, so I can get back on my feet, you know?”

“That’s okay. We’re going back to Uganda in a week and a half-“

“Oh yeah, that’s where they sent you off to,”

“Yeah. We’re going back to Uganda in a week and a half, if you want to come with us. We plan on visiting back soon, and if you want to come back, you can,”

“I… might have to take you up on that offer. It’d be good “brother bonding time”, maybe I can get some good pictures while I’m there, too,”

Connor looked at Kevin, as if asking what Whizzer meant. 

“He’s a photographer. He’ll also organize your wardrobe in rainbow order, and help you pick out what to wear every day.”

“Oh, that makes sense,”

Whizzer winked and smiled at Connor, almost laughing at the expressions on both of the other men’s faces. 

“Do you two want to get something? I’m willing to pay, if you want me to,”

“I’ll get another coffee. Connor?”

“I’ll go with you,”

“Okay. I’ll stay here,” Whizzer started to play with the paper from the straw wrapper, trying to not drift off. 

“He’s not too bad,” Connor whispered to Kevin once they were in line. 

“Just wait. He’s tired right now, and you just met him. Just wait.”

“That’s almost scary,”

“It should be. You’ve been given a warning, use it well,” Kevin teased a little, but he was also being a little serious. If you weren’t ready for Whizzer, things might not end up well. Connor shrugged. 

“How bad could he be?”

“You’d be surprised.” With that, they ordered their donuts and something to drink before going back to the table, where Whizzer’s head was in his hand and his breathing was even. 

“I think he fell asleep,” Connor muttered.


	2. I Love the Bed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to thank everyone for all the views!!
> 
> I also hope to update once every two weeks, or on the sixteenth/seventeenth of every month, whichever is easiest.

“I wouldn’t be too surprised. I’ll wake him up in a second,” Kevin pulled out Connor’s chair for him before sitting in his own. “Whizzer,” Kevin whispered, not wanting to startle the other man. He reached a hand across the table and gently shook him. “Whizzer. Wake up,”

Whizzer opened his eyes, looking at the two sleepily. “Oh, hi, Kevin. You’re back already?”

“Yeah, the line wasn’t that long,” Connor explained. 

“Yeah. Sorry I, uh…”

“No, it’s fine. We’ll help you get your stuff out to the car soon and you can have the backseat and sleep for a couple hours.” Kevin joined. 

“Okay. Thanks. Seriously. You two are helping me so much, and I just… yeah. Thanks.”

“It’s not a problem. You’re my brother.”

“I’m a pretty shit brother,”

Connor seemed almost surprised by what Whizzer said- he was still getting used to all the words he’d never been allowed to use before. Kevin, however, seemed unfazed by it. 

“When has that ever mattered to you? You’ve never cared about what people thought about you, and you’ve never tried to be better.”

“It matters now because… because… I don’t know. I just… my opinions actually mattered. You know that? A kid asked me, me, if he should see a psychiatrist. I was the person that would give a final decision, upon the kid’s choice.”

“Who?”

“Who what?”

“The kid, genius. What’s his name?”

“Jason.”

“Oh. If you wanted us to, we could-“

“No.” Whizzer was firm when he spoke. “As much as I’d love to, no. I’ve given him a number to contact me at, so I can keep in touch with Jason, but that’s it. His father broke up with me, wants nothing to do with me, so I’ll leave them be.”

“Wait… are you-“ Connor began. 

“Gay? Yeah. Welcome to the club.”

“What?” 

Whizzer rolled his eyes. “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

“Oh…Kay?” 

“Hey, Connor, I’m going to help Whizzer get his stuff in the car, you can stay in here if you want, I’ll come get you when we’re ready,”

“Okay, good luck, have fun!” Connor stood and hugged Kevin quickly before sitting back down and waving. Whizzer grabbed the bag that he had been sitting by, following Kevin out the door. 

“I can’t believe you almost told him!” Kevin whispered angrily as they made their way to the car. 

“Told him what?”

“You know what? You don’t understand it. He’s just now starting to come to terms with who he is. Don’t you dare-“

“I’m not going to. I can promise you that. However, if you two are going to prove that whatever you have is completely platonic, you’re going to have to try harder.”

“What?”

“How… you know what, I’ll tell you later. Right now, I kind of just want to sleep.”

“Okay. Go ahead and get into the car, I can put your bag in for you. There should be a blanket in the back if you want it, you can have the backseat to yourself.”

“Thanks,” Whizzer did as his brother suggested, climbing into the back. After Kevin was sure the bag was in the trunk and Whizzer was good in the back, he went back into the Krispy Kreme to get Connor.

“C’mon, we’re ready to go now. I’m thinking about getting a set of twelve donuts, what do you think?”

“That sounds okay. I can get them, if you want,”

“No, I can get them. I wanted to get another coffee before we left, too,”

“I’ll go with you if you want,”

“Okay.” Kevin grabbed his empty coffee cup and threw it in the trash before grabbing Connor’s hand and gently tugging him to the ordering line. They got the donuts fairly quickly, and Kevin attempted ordering two coffees, but Connor told him not to. 

They walked hand-in-hand out of the shop, Connor with a box of donuts and Kevin with a coffee. When they got back to the car, Whizzer was already asleep in the backseat, a blanket pulled over him. 

Kevin opened the door for Connor, taking the donuts as the other man got in the car and got buckled in. He gave them back before closing the door and going around to the driver’s side, opening his own door and getting into the car. Connor took his coffee from him and held it as he got buckled in, putting the coffee in the cup holder after a few seconds.

Once Kevin was out of the parking lot, he let his eyes flick over to Connor for a second. 

The other man was looking out the window, sometimes looking back to check on Whizzer. Kevin reached a hand over and grabbed Connor’s, squeezing it to get the other man’s attention. 

“If you want, you can try to take a nap, too,” Kevin whispered. Connor nodded. 

“Thanks,” Kevin nodded in response to Connor’s answer, retracting his hand and putting it back on the steering wheel so he had both hands on it. Connor looked down at his own clasped hands, missing the warmth from Kevin’s but not daring to grab the other man’s hands. After a couple minutes of silence, Connor spoke again. 

“I don’t know if this is the best time, but… are we going to ask him about what happened? Later, of course. Not right now. But when we’re at the hotel.”

“Maybe. If he’s up to telling it. I’m not going to make him tell us if he doesn’t want to, or if he can’t, you know?”

“Yeah. That’s a good idea,” Connor went back to looking out the window for a few minutes before he looked back at Kevin. “What did he mean when he said to “join the club”?”

“Oh. That. He… he’s gay. You already know that. Uhm. Wow. Okay. So… he knows you’re… I don’t really know how to go about this without saying it straight out. No one in this car is one hundred percent straight, and he knows this.”

“What do you mean?” Connor started looking at Kevin suspiciously.

“I’m bi. You’re gay. He’s gay.”

“Wh-n-i- i have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m completely-”

“Connor, Love, you’re gay. I told him to give you time to accept it, but… I’m really sorry, okay? I just… I didn’t want to do this. Sorry. I was going to give you more time to get used to it,”

“I’m not gay. I’m straight.” Connor crossed his arms. A short laugh from the back drew the two men’s attention to Whizzer, who stretched.

“You’re as straight as a rainbow slinky,” he said lazily.

“I’m not gay!”

“Sure. And I’m an octopus.”

“Whizzer!” Kevin reached back and smacked his brother, who only snickered.

“Connor, get your boyfriend under control,” Whizzer said, smirking a little. Connor felt his face heat up and he got closer to the window, making himself as small as possible as he tried to hide his face.

“Go the fuck back to sleep!” Kevin nearly shouted. That was enough to make Connor look up and Whizzer to shrug. “Leave Connor out of all this and shut up! Leave him the fuck alone!”

“I didn’t do anything,” Whizzer said, feigning innocence as he laid back down, pulling the blanket back over himself.

“Didn’t do anything my ass. If you’re not careful, I’m kicking you out.”

“No, it’s fine,” Connor spoke up again. Kevin’s eyes immediately softened when he looked at Connor.

“Okay,” Kevin nodded, his voice softer than before. “You better be glad Connor’s here,” He called back to Whizzer.

“I bet you are,” Whizzer said before closing his eyes. Kevin sighed.

“Sorry about him,” he looked at Connor.

“It’s fine. Keep your eyes on the road. I’d prefer to not get in a wreck.”

“Okay. Thanks,” Kevin looked back at the road, trying to ignore the feeling of Connor watching him. 

“You’re tense,” he said eventually.

“Hmm?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I’m fine,”

“Whizzer seems tense too. I… is everything okay?”

“Yeah, we’re fine, he just went through a pretty dramatic breakup by the looks of it, and you just saw what happened,”

“Yeah. I wasn’t sure if you two got in an argument earlier, or…”

“Nah, we’re fine,” Kevin let himself look at Connor for a second before looking back at the road. The other man grabbed his right hand, squeezing it gently.

“It’s all going to be okay, i promise,” 

“I hope so,” Kevin moved his hand so he was holding Connor’s too, entwining their fingers. “Is this…”

“Yeah,” Connor nodded. “This is okay.”

And with that, they continued on their way, hoping to get to Orlando as quickly as possible. 

About five hours after this, Kevin woke Whizzer up. 

“Wake up. It’s your turn to drive.” Whizzer groaned when his brother spoke, but sat up anyways. He looked around, sighing when he saw the time and mentally cursing. It was a little before two in the morning. He should be in bed with Marvin, asleep at this time. 

Oh wait, Marvin broke up with him. Yeah. Whizzer got out of the backseat, climbing out of the car and stretching once he was out. Kevin had parked in a Walmart parking lot. 

“C’mon, let’s go inside for a second so we can get some snacks and use the bathroom,” Kevin grabbed Connor’s hand, letting the other man lead him to the front of the store as he reached back to drag Whizzer with him.


	3. They're All Geniuses, That's What.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've been screaming for the past half hour because of all the nice comments you all have left?? I seriously didn't expect this to get as much attention as it did, thanks a whole ton everyone!!

“Can I just go back to sleep?” Whizzer yawned, trying to get his hand out of his brother’s grasp. 

“No, we need to go inside and then you’re driving.”

“What? Why?”

“Because we’ve been driving all day and we’re tired. We had to come pick your ass up from Tennessee.”

“Kevin, language,” Connor whispered, not wanting to be too loud. 

“Right, sorry. But you get the idea, right?”

Whizzer laughed. “Yeah, I get the idea. I’ll drive, then, but can I get a coffee?”

“Sure,” Kevin nodded. “If you can find one, at least. I don’t know if they sell them here.”

“No, I’m gonna try to find a coffee place before we get too far,”

“Okay. Good luck,” 

They entered the store, separating out jobs. 

“Connor, do you want to come with me to get some snacks, and Whizzer can get some sodas or something?”

“Sure, that sounds okay,” Connor and Whizzer both nodded before going their separate ways. 

Connor and Kevin walked hand in hand to the chip aisle, getting some regular chips before going to get some Oreos. They made their way back to the front, Kevin rolling his eyes when he saw Whizzer had gotten a case of juice boxes and some iced coffees. 

“Those are two very different drinks, there,” 

“I know, they’re both good though. Last I checked, you were also the one who sent me to get them. My choice.”

“Whatever. Let’s pay, then take the stuff to the car.”

“Would you two be willing to take it all out to the car?”

“Sure,” Connor nodded. They got in a line, thankful that it wasn’t too long, and paid quickly. They parted from Whizzer at the door, who said something about using the bathroom before walking off. 

Kevin shrugged, grabbing Connor’s free hand and walking across the parking lot. They opened the trunk and put the stuff in, closing it after and leaning on the car. 

“This is… nice.” Connor said, looking up at the sky. “It’s quiet.”

“Yeah.” 

A couple beats. 

“Are you okay?” Connor looked over at the other man. 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Kevin nodded. He grabbed Connor’s hand. “Is this…”

“Okay? Yeah. This is okay.” 

“Okay.” 

The two tore their gazes off of each other, breaking eye contact. 

“I…” Kevin started, but decided not to finish what he was going to say. 

“Yeah?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Sure,” 

“Don’t worry about it,” Kevin shook his head, looking up at the sky.

“Why not?” Connor nudged Kevin playfully, causing the other man to look at him.

They were both painfully aware of how close they were, of how close their lips were. Their breaths were mixing in the air, a fact that they could easily deduce. Did they want to move a little closer?

Maybe.

Maybe that’s how they both ended up getting closer. Maybe that’s how their lips ended up touching.

Whatever it was, they weren’t entirely sure how it happened, how it started, but they knew it happened. They stood there for a solid five seconds, not moving, lips touching, barely breathing, before they both came to their sense and pulled away quickly. Kevin rubbed his neck.

“Sorry,” he whispered. “Was that…”

“Please. Stop talking. I’m… please.” 

“Okay.” 

They stood in silence, a certain tension around them, before they saw Whizzer jogging towards them.

“You two can go in and go to the bathroom if you want, I can crank the car,” he said once he was closer to them. He could sense the tension, but wasn’t sure how to acknowledge it. He considered asking, but based on how both of them were, he decided not to. He’d ask his brother later.

“Okay, thanks. Connor, you can go ahead without me, I’ll give him the keys and make sure he knows how to crank it.”

“Okay.” Connor walked off.

“What-” Whizzer started once Connor was out of ear shot.

“I think we kissed.”

“What?!”

“I… we were close. I just… did i completely ruin everything?”

“Hey, calm down. Did you…? Or was it both?”

“Both, i think. I don’t know. Did i rush it?”

“You said he’s still getting used to his sexuality, right?”

“Yeah. He, uh… he has nightly Hell Dreams.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Listen, and listen closely: you can act like nothing happened. Stay friends, and leave it at that. You could let him decide to say something about it, if you want to. But I can see the way he looks at you. You two need each other, and I think it’s fairly safe to say he loves you too.”

“I… are you sure?”

“Positive. Now come on, give me the damn keys so i can get the car started.”

“Asshole,” Kevin laughed as he threw his brother the keys. Whizzer tssked.

“That’s some naughty language you got there,”

“Oh, shut up,”

“Really? Next you’re going to start-”

“There are little ears!”

“There’s literally no one else here, idiot,”

“Whatever. I’m going to go in and use the bathroom, don’t leave without us,”

“I won’t,” Whizzer climbed into the front seat as Kevin started back towards the store. He drove to the front slowly, hoping to make it easier for the other two men to get into the car. Connor was waiting at the front, arms crossed, clearly cold. Kevin was standing not too far away, looking like he was considering to say something. Eventually he moved a little closer to Connor, taking off his jacket and giving it to the other man, who hesitated before pulling it closer around himself. Whizzer laughed a little.

The two men opened the door to the backseat, climbing in together. They closed the door and Whizzer was off, not paying any attention to them as he heard them get buckled in. 

“Everyone good?”

“Yeah, we’re good,” Connor said, snuggling deeper into Kevin’s jacket. They were seated right next to each other, Connor in the middle seat. Whizzer had to resist the urge to “aww” at them as Kevin put his arm around Connor and let the other lean on him. Connor grabbed his other hand, entwining their fingers together before snuggling into Kevin’s side. He smiled contentedly as he let his eyes drift shut, Kevin rubbing his hand and looking out the window as he did so. 

“He’s not too mad at you?” Whizzer whispered, barely daring to speak too loud about ten minutes after watching this unfold in the rear view mirror. 

“I don’t know. I think he’s asleep now,” Kevin looked down at the other man, smiling fondly. “He’s calm. Quiet. He seems okay. This is good.”

“Yeah. Do you know of anything that could help with the… dreams?”

“No, not really. If I could, I’d help him. He’s peaceful now, though, so hopefully he’s getting a little sleep,” Kevin kissed the top of Connor’s head, and the other man gripped his hand tighter. “Are you still awake?”

No response. 

“I think he’s out,” Whizzer laughed a little. 

“Yeah, I’d say he is.”

“You should tell him,”

“What?”

“Later. You should tell him,”

“Tell him what?”

“Oh my god. I’m not going to be your wingman. Just fucking tell him you love him, you need him, you can’t imagine life without him.”

“Wait what? Why?”

“Never mind. Just keep dancing around each other and stay like this, if that’s what you want.”

“I just… i don’t want to rush anything or pressure him or anything… you know? He’s still getting used to… all this.”

“I know. That’s okay. But you should still tell him how you feel and ask him if he’s interested in an actual relationship with you as opposed to kissing in the fucking parking lot, having tension that’s so think I could cut through it with a saw, and then cuddling in the backseat of a fucking car. Some consistency would be nice.”

“I… he was cold. He wanted to sit in the back and I sure as hell am not sitting up front with you, and I’m not leaving him alone.”

“I’d check on him every so often, now would be good.”

At Whizzer’s prompting, Kevin checked on Connor to make sure he was okay. 

“You two are good for each other. You say he has nightly hell dreams? He seems calm and peaceful and not hell-dreaming right now,”

“I mean… maybe you’re right? But I doubt it,”

“Kevin, you shouldn’t doubt me. Marvin did that and I beat him at chess.”

“And he kicked you out.”

“Ah. Yeah. Good point. I mean… we fought a lot anyways. It was only a matter of time before it happened.”

“Whizzer, I swear. Were you sleeping around again?”

“When?”

“When you were in the relationship?” Kevin sighed. 

“Again?”

“What do you… were you sleeping around. That’s all you have to answer.”

“I mean… I could’ve done better to only be with Marvin?”

“So you cheated on him.”

“Not really. I’ve never really been into monogamy, you know this.”

“You should get into it.”

“I tried! I didn’t do badly, either! And I’m not the only person at fault. Marvin wasn’t… he…”

“Did he hurt you?”

“He… came close to it. He never laid a hand on me. Well, I mean, he touched me, of course, but… not like that.”

“Okay. I won’t stab his jugular then. Were you sleeping around before we picked you up?”

“What do you mean?”

“How do I explain it simpler? Were you fucking other guys after you and Marvin broke up and before Connor and I got you?”

“Only a couple times. It was an easy way to find a place to sleep.”

“Whizzer…”

“I know, I know. I just… it’s not been easy. I kind of just want to get an actual night of rest and to get back on my feet and be able to survive on my own, then maybe try to get into a serious relationship. I’d actually try to stay clean in that one. Not go off with other men.”

“We’d be willing to help you, if you need money and stuff,”

“Thanks, but i think I’ve got that handled. I appreciate it, though, and I’ll definitely ask if I ever need any,”

“Okay, good. If I fall asleep, goodnight, it’s good to know you’re safe. You’re free to stay with us for as long as you want or need, we’re happy to have you here.”

“Okay. Night, Kevin. Sleep well.”

And with that, Kevin closed his eyes and let himself fall asleep, Whizzer driving them the rest of the way to the hotel, a phone telling him where to go.


	4. Whizzer is Done

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Quick warning: In this chapter, two characters have a conversation about being gay, I just want to warn everyone that there's a couple questions about it but not too much negativity, but I don't want to take a chance that someone might be negatively affected by this- you're all more important than this work. I'll do my best to summarize it at the beginning of the next chapter (if anyone needs it/requests it/I'm probably going to do it anyways if I can write a good enough summary).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!! I’ve been considering putting some chapters on Tumblr as well, and starting another fanfiction (or adding the idea to this one, but it’s kinda weird, I’ll explain it later), but you’re free to ask any questions you have on the Tumblr blog I plan on putting chapters on, as well as on here.
> 
> Right now it’s called loveisblind-so-turnitoff if you want to check it out!
> 
> Also, if anyone has anything they want to see happen, feel free to comment and I’ll try to find a spot to put it in!
> 
> Thanks again to everyone for reading, I really appreciate it.

It was about seven in the morning before they got back to the hotel, and Connor and Kevin had both been sleep for most of that time, cuddled up in the backseat. Whizzer almost didn’t want to wake them up, but he knew he had to. 

“Kevin.” He reached back and shook his brother, who, upon waking up, fixed him with a death glare. “Sorry,” Whizzer whispered, laughing a little. “There’s coffee if you need it,”

“Yeah. Thanks.” Kevin snapped at him. Connor slowly started to wake up, stretching as he did so. Kevin let his attention be drawn to the other man, smiling gently when they made eye contact. “How’d you sleep?” 

“It was okay. A little stiff, and short, but other than that it was good,”

“No hell dream?”

“No hell dream,”

Whizzer gave Kevin a look when Connor said this. 

See? He needs you. He mouthed to his brother, who shook his head. 

“That’s really good!” Kevin said, unbuckling and opening the car door. He helped Connor out, closing the door behind the other man once they were both in the parking lot. Whizzer got out of the car as well, unlocking the trunk before throwing his brother the keys to the car. He got his bag out of the trunk before grabbing a Walmart bag. Kevin took another, handing Connor the key to the hotel room so the other man could open the door. 

Connor was still in Kevin’s jacket, and it took a lot out of Kevin to not “aww” right there at how adorable he thought the other man looked. He pushed down any thoughts and feelings he had about Connor at the moment as they walked towards the hotel, opening the door and trying to get to their room as quickly and quietly as possible. Connor opened the door for them once they got to the room, Kevin putting the bags on the floor near the fridge and telling Whizzer to put his bag near the tv. 

“You’re going to stay in the room with us, but I want you to meet Arnold first.”

“Who?”

“He’s my best friend,” Kevin didn’t even think before speaking. Connor smiled a little. “You know what we should do?”

“What?”

“…nah, that’d be mean,” Kevin said before walking over to the bed Arnold was in. He started to shake his friend, whispering at him to get up before giving up and kicking his shoes off. He motioned for Whizzer to stand not too far from the bed before getting on it, jumping up and down. “Arnold, wake up, wake up!” he wasn’t too loud as he spoke. He sat down on the bed and started to shake his friend.

“Hey, Kevin!” Arnold greeted Whizzer, who started to laugh.

“Not Kevin,” he said, pointing to the bed.

“I sure hope he’s not Kevin. Last time i checked, that was me,” Kevin got off the bed, helping his friend up. “This is Whizzer, my stepbrother.”

Whizzer rolled his eyes, not bothering to correct Kevin.

“He got kicked out of the house, so he’s going to stay with us for a little while, he might go back to Uganda with us, we’re not entirely sure yet.”

“I’m okay with him staying with us. What’re your thoughts on Star Wars?” 

“Never seen them. Is it a requirement to?”

“No, but you’ll… you’ll probably be able to give a summary of the first movie after being around Arnold for a couple days,” Kevin laughed a little. “We’ll be back, we just wanted to let you know we made it back safely. We should probably go back to our room so we can get everything settled, we’ll be back soon,” 

At Kevin’s words Whizzer grabbed his bag and stood by Connor, the other man unlocking the door to their hotel room before the three walked in. 

“That one’s yours,” Kevin pointed at the one by the window. 

“Are you two going to share?” Whizzer started to tease, but it was also a genuine question. 

“I mean… if Connor’s alright with it still, yeah,”

“I’m fine with it, if it’ll spare either of us getting kicked off the bed,” Connor nodded. 

“Okay. So you’re in that bed, Connor and I will share that one. Unless Connor wants by the window?”

“I’m fine either way.” Connor crossed his arms. 

“Okay. I’m going to go see if Arnold wants to get breakfast and we all go out, or if he just wants me to pick some up and we all eat in the hotel,” Kevin said, starting to the door to Arnold and Nabulungi’s room. 

“Okay, have fun,” Connor sat on the bed farthest from the window as Kevin went through the door, closing it behind himself. 

“You love him.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement from Whizzer. 

“W-what?” Connor looked up quickly. 

“Listen, I’m not going to force anything on you. I can tell. You two need each other, okay? Just… please don’t hurt him.”

“What do you… mean?”

“Did you have a hell dream when you were in the back by him?”

“I… What do-“

“Just answer the question.”

“No.”

“Do you have them every night?”

“I don’t see-“

“Answer the damn question.”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Do you see a correlation?”

“I… guess?”

“Do you want me to spell it out for you? The one time you don’t have a hell dream in years is when you’re curled up comfortably by Kevin in the back of a car, wrapped up in his jacket.”

“I mean… I guess…”

“You know I’m right. I understand that you’re new to all this, but nothing bad is going to happen. I promise.”

“I just… i don’t want to… gays… I don’t want to go to hell,”

“Look at me,” Whizzer’s voice softened. “Is Kevin going to go to hell? Does he deserve to?”

“I… no.”

“Am I going to go to hell?”

“I… n-“

“Okay, I’m going to tell you something: I probably deserve to. I’m a dick and honestly I’d be surprised if I didn’t. Take that away, though. Do I deserve to go to hell?”

“No.”

“You’re not going to go to hell for kissing boys or being gay. I promise. There’s literally nothing in any holy book I’ve read against gay people, but honestly my knowledge consists of what little Kevin forced me to read of the Book of Mormon, the Bible, and the Torah.”

“Huh?”

“Half Jewish. We’ve got a weird family tree. That’s why I’ve read the Torah, though. Childhood. But it’s just a thing religious people push on others. I mean, they act like everyone was one hundred percent straight.”

“They weren’t?”

“Nah. At least, I don’t think they were. But that’s not important. You should talk to Kevin, I think you two are good for each other, and I can tell you like him.”

“I have-”

“Please don’t try that. I can tell. Just trust me. I know you’re new to this, but I think Kevin could help you, and you could help Kevin.”

“I… okay. I’ll think about it.”

“Okay. I think it’d be best for both of you,”

“Thanks,” Connor wasn’t sarcastic as he spoke, he was completely sincere. Whizzer nodded.

“It’s the least i could do. Kevin’s coming back,” Whizzer put on an easy smile, acting like the previous conversation never happened. “What’d he say?”

“We’re going to all go out to eat,” Kevin said, going towards the dresser in the middle of the room and pulling out a shirt and pants. “You two probably want to get changed, Whizzer, feel free to take a shower, if you want you can after him, Connor,” Kevin said as he closed the drawer. Whizzer nodded, opening his suitcase and getting a shirt and pants out before going to the bathroom to shower.


	5. A Quick Author's Note

You know that thing humans do when they get excited/happy and they're sitting there flailing their arms and screaming and squealing?

Yeah, I've been doing that for the past I don't know how long because all of you guys are so nice and supportive?

Seriously, thanks a whole ton. 

I'll have days where I'm just really not into anything and it's hard to feel emotions, at least to the point where you can tell what they are, and I come and check this and reread through all the nice comments and see just the amount of reads this work has and I'll feel myself smile a little and I can feel more of an emotion than just the faint feeling- but that's a bit confusing. I don't really know how to explain it better than this question: Have you ever questioned your own existence and your purpose in life? But that's not important and probably just really confusing.

Just know that you all are amazing, and I really appreciate the reads this has gotten, and all the positive feedback. I honestly, never, in my wildest dreams, imagined that this would get anywhere near the amount of reads it has, let alone the love you all have shown it.

Thanks a whole ton, seriously.

I try to respond to every comment, but sometimes I'm sitting at my laptop squealing and jumping around so much because I'm so happy that you're leaving nice comments to find an actual response other than keysmashing.

Some of you know, I've actually replied to comments with keysmashing.

Because that's a thing normal humans do- because I'm definitely normal. And not imaginary (how do we know we're not really imaginary? for all we know, we could be in a simulation, or we could be a figment of someone's imagination)- but that's not important.

I'm sorry, I'm really, really bad at humor.

The normal human thing was supposed to be funny. It's okay to laugh. Or not. Actually, maybe don't laugh at it. It's not that funny.

However, watching a Book of Mormon bootleg right after a Falsettos bootleg is. I think?

Anyways.

Did you guys know that there's a character count on chapters?

You probably already did, and don't care.

Sorry, I'm rambling. There was an actual point to all this, but now I can't quite remember what it was. I'll go check my nonexistent sticky notes really quick, be right back.

Hi, I'm back.

Okay, so:

I don't remember if it's at the beginning of the last chapter or not, I'm fairly sure it is, but just so that I can make sure I've said it:

I've started posting this fic on Tumblr as well- the blog is called loveisblind-so-turnitoff. You're free to ask any questions about the fic there, as well as in comments over here- I just figured it would be easier to ask questions and stuff on Tumblr for some reason. I don't really know/remember. It was, like, one a.m. when I made the decision and even then I don't really remember making the decision.

Anyways, no one really wants to read about that- on to the stuff about the actual work!

*rubs hands together* Okay, so I've currently got up to chapter nine written, and I'm currently working on said chapter nine. I am quite happy to say that nothing too bad happens within everything I have written- no one dies, no one ends up in a big fight, no one kills each other, no one calls Mendel short...

But it's not too "angsty", I guess is the term? 

I'll admit, I've been having to pace myself because there's things I want to get to, but at the same time they can't happen yet because other stuff has to happen first.

I should warn you, though, I've been considering naming a chapter "whomst'd've'ly'yaint'nt'ed'ies's'y'es". I don't really know how to explain why.

It'll make sense if we get to it- I doubt we will, though, but I've been sitting here laughing at late something in front of my laptop imagining actually making a chapter with that title, but with no idea what to actually put in it.

But I'm having a lot of fun writing this, and I hope you all are enjoying it as well.

Thanks again, everyone!


	6. Whizzer Took all the Hot Water and now Kevin Wants to Fight Him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can probably tell, I'm bad at only updating once a week- which is okay, since I can usually get a chapter or two done fairly quickly. Anyways, I've decided to update on Monday/Tuesday and Friday, occasionally on Thursdays, depending on how much work I have done on this, and if I can't keep to that, it'll be on Friday/Saturdays, so... basically, it's going to have at least one new chapter every Saturday, if you want an idea of when there'll be more chapters out. I hope to find a way to keep to some schedule with updating this.

“I… hey, Kevin?”

“Hmm? What is it, Love?”

“I… we need to talk.”

“About?”

“The… we can't just act like it never happened, alright?”

“What do you… last night?”

“Yeah,”

“Oh. Okay. Well, here I am acknowledging it: last night happened.”

“Not like that. I mean… we…”

“We possibly kissed.”

“Yeah,”

“And then we cuddled and slept together in the backseat of the car.”

“Yeah.”

“Does any of that bother you? Was it… too… too much?” Kevin seemed less sure of himself as he spoke. 

“I… i don’t know. I just… not right now. I’m sor-“

“No, no. It’s okay. There’s no rush, I promise. Do you still want to share a bed?”

“Will either of us end up on the floor if we don’t?”

“Probably, yeah. I don’t think you want to sleep in a bed with Whizzer and I know I’m not going to,”

“Okay. We’ll share a bed, then. Oh, and I… i slept okay last night. I mean, as well as you can in a car,”

“That’s good. You seemed peaceful. Hell dream?”

“No, not really. It was… i don’t remember. I don’t think I did.”

“That’s good!”

“Yeah, i guess. I mean, it was kinda nice, I feel better rested, I guess,”

“Yeah, like you said, we were in a car. Not too easy to get good sleep, especially not five hours worth,” Kevin cracked a smile as he spoke. 

“Yeah,”

“Oh, and… don’t worry about Whizzer too much. He’s not going to do anything,”

“Okay, thanks. He seems nice. Weird, I guess is the right word, but… nice. He means well, or at least he seems to,”

“Yeah, that’s one way to put it,”

“Are you two mad at each other?” Connor seemed genuinely curious. 

“Who, me and Whizzer? Nah. I mean, he picked up and left, but that was years ago. We’re fine, just brothers.”

“That makes sense,”

Whizzer chose that moment to get out of the bathroom, wearing a pink button-down and a pair of khakis. “Next,” he said, shoving his dirty clothes into his bag. Connor nodded, getting his own bundle of clothes and going to the bathroom. Once the door was locked, Whizzer turned towards his brother. 

“So, are you two together yet?”

“No. We might later, but right now isn’t the best time.”

Whizzer shook his head. “You know what, it’s whatever. I tried to help.”

“Sure, if you call whatever the hell you did helping.”

“I did. I’ve talked to both of you now, haven’t i? I told him he’s not going to hell for being gay. Which is probably why he didn’t shout at you when you brought up last night.”

“You heard?”

“No, dummy. I know you well enough to guess that it’d come up. When I didn’t hear shouting, I assumed that he took it and was fine with it, or you two were making out. Either one worked for me.”

“He’s not ready yet. That’s okay.”

“You’re right. It is. You two have a lot you have to get through, and you’re going to need each other. Just remember that.”

“I know.”

Silence. They could hear the water running. 

“Where are we eating at?”

“IHOP. They’ve got coffee and-“

“I know what IHOP is. I’ve been there before. You were with me!”

“Sorry,” Kevin seemed almost sarcastic as he spoke. 

“I think your boyfriend’s almost done with his shower.” Whizzer crosses his arms, glaring at his brother. 

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

“Fine. Your whatever he is.”

“Friend.”

The door to the bathroom opened, and Connor walked out, putting his bundle of clothes in a plastic bag. “He took most of the hot water.”

“Sorry,” Whizzer raised his hands in mock defeat. 

“No you’re not,” Kevin shook his head. 

“You’re right. I'm not too sorry.”

“It doesn’t matter. Go get dressed so we can go.” Connor gave Kevin back his jacket. 

“It does if it bothers you,” Kevin said, grabbing his own clothes. “You can keep the jacket,”

“Won’t you get cold?”

“Nah. I’ve got another one,” 

“I… okay,” Connor shrugged the jacket back on, Kevin smiling a little as he did so before going into the bathroom. 

“He just gave you his jacket.”

“I… yeah?”

“I’m not going to say anything.”

“But you… you know what, never mind,” Connor shook his head. Whizzer confused him a little. 

“You’ll understand later. Let Kevin help you, yeah? Let all of us help you. But Kevin mostly.”

“Okay, are you trying to be a wingman or something?”

Whizzer laughed. 

“No. I mean, I guess. I can see that both of you need each other and that you’d be good for each other. You’d help each other.”

“But-“

“There’s nothing to rush.”

“You’re the one pushing it,”

“I’m trying to get you two to come to your fucking senses and realize that yes, dammit, the feelings are reciprocated.”

Connor winced just a little at Whizzer’s language but made no move to say anything about it. 

“I just… wait, you know for a fact that he likes me too?”

“I’m pretty damn sure, seeing as he’s been practically drooling over you for the past… how long has it been since you two picked me up? And that’s only what I’ve seen.”

“I… i don’t know. I just…”

“He understands. He’d go slow, but please, I’m fucking begging you, date the man.”

“I… maybe. If he asked. Maybe.”

“It’d help both of you.”

“You’ve said that twenty times already.”

“Whatever. It’s true. You two have been dancing around each other, I can see that.”

“I’m done… can we find something else to talk about?”

“What’re you going to get at IHOP?”

“I don’t know yet. I’ll have to see,”

“Same here. I bet I can tell you what Kevin’s going to get,”

“What do you think it’ll be?”

“Coffee and a regular pancake,”

“I… can see that,” Connor nodded. Whizzer cracked a smile. 

“Are you excited to go back to Uganda?”

“I mean… I guess. We’ve got people waiting for us over there,”

“What caused you to come here?”

“Kevin really wanted to go to Orlando, and the three of them invited me to come along,”

“Huh,” 

“Yeah. He tends to get excited about Orlando. Or, he did, at least.”

“Yeah, sorry about that,”

“What do you mean?”

“I'm the one that told him about it first. We went when we were kids, and he’s been in love with it since. There were a couple times after we went where I told him we were going and… yeah. We weren’t.”

“Why?”

“Brother. It’s not like he didn’t do stuff like that to me, but I’ll admit, he was a lot quieter, at least towards me, after that happened,”

“I’m not surprised, he doesn’t seem like the person to joke around about Orlando,”

“Kevin Price takes Orlando seriously,” Whizzer nodded as he spoke. “Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

Kevin opened the door to the bathroom, walking out and putting his clothes in a plastic bag too. 

“What were you two talking about?” He questioned, looking between his brother and friend. 

“How much you love Orlando,” Connor shrugged. 

“It’s the greatest place on Earth. Of course I love it!”

“Kevin’s gonna marry it,” Whizzer teased. 

“Wait, I can do that?”

“No, I don’t… think you can,” Connor seemed unsure. 

“No, don’t worry. He wouldn’t want to, there’s someone else he wants to marry,” at Whizzer’s words Kevin smacked his arm. “However, he’ll probably try to get married in Orlando,”

“Good luck with that,” Connor almost felt his heart sink as Whizzer’s words sunk in. Kevin already had someone else he wanted to marry. Kevin looked about ready to throttle his brother, but Arnold knocking on the door grabbed his attention. 

“You three ready?”

“Yeah, we’re good, we’ll be out in a second,” Kevin called back to his friend. 

“Okay!”

When the three went out the door, the hallway was still empty. 

“Do you want us to go out to the car and figure out where everyone’s sitting?” Kevin knocked on the door to Arnold and Nabulungi’s room as he spoke.

“Go ahead, we’re almost ready,”

Shrugs all around.

“Well, what are we waiting for? We might as well go,” Whizzer started down the hall, Kevin grabbing Connor’s hand before following his brother. The three decided that Arnold would drive, Connor climbing into the passenger seat because he could, thank you very much. Whizzer climbed in on the far left side, getting into the back, Kevin on the right behind Connor. Once Arnold and Nabulungi were in the car, Arnold driving, Nabulungi between Connor and Kevin, they started off.


	7. Kevin and Whizzer Drive Everyone up the Wall, Figuratively.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Me, realizing i already have one hundred pages and a lot to go: wait wHAT HOW DID THIS HAPPEN
> 
> Me, remembering what's coming up: ooh hoo hoo fun I'm going to enjoy this
> 
> Me, realizing you all can read this: Nothing to worry about, I promise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the views, seriously. It means a lot, and right now this work is really helping me, if that makes any sense. The document it's on already has a hundred pages, which is the most I've ever written, and I'm really excited for what happens. I feel like I've been a bit nice with the lack of angst, and anything bad happening, and I've thought about adding some but there's nowhere to make it work. Curse my inability to hurt these characters- when it comes to my own... but that's besides the point. But I hope to be updating with a somewhat consistent schedule- either Tuesday or Thursday, I haven't decided which yet, and every other Friday, and then maybe some Saturdays, if that makes more sense than the last one. Thanks again everyone!

 

For the first couple minutes, three at most, it was fairly quiet. Until-

 

“Move your foot.”

 

“Fuck no. Mine was here first.”

 

“Whatever.”

 

Quiet for a few seconds.

 

“Stop being so damn loud.”

 

“I’m not doing anything!”

 

“You’re breathing is loud!”

 

“Your… your face is loud!”

 

“Kevin, that’s… that doesn’t really make any sense,” Connor turned to look behind at Kevin as he spoke.

 

“I don’t really care.”

 

“Shut up!” Whizzer kicked his brother, barely missing Nabulungi’s leg.

 

“Stop!” Kevin responded in turn, reaching across his friend to hit his brother.

 

“Oh my-  Boys, stop fighting!” Connor was frustrated as he spoke, Arnold looking over to him and mouthing a thanks.

 

“Fine.”

 

“What if we just put you two by each other so only you two get hurt?”

 

“I’m willing to switch with Nabulungi. Maybe that’ll help? I don’t know,” Connor shrugged.

 

“Yeah, I’ll pull over here and you can switch, if you want,” Arnold nodded.

 

“Oh, I’m sure it would help,” Whizzer snickered. Kevin kicked him. “What? It’s true,”

 

“Do i need to sit between you two or have Kevin in the middle?”

 

“I’m not sitting by him.”

 

“I’m not sitting by him, either,” Whizzer stuck his tongue out at his brother after speaking.

 

“You two are such children,”

 

“How surprised are you?” Whizzer looked up at Connor as he spoke.

 

“We thought you’d maybe be a little different?” Arnold suggested. Whizzer seemed to find this hilarious for some reason.

 

“Oh my god. You do realize that I literally just came out of a gay relationship, broken up because i beat my ex at chess, and was apparently-”

 

“Whizzer, it’s not monogamy if you still go and do you know what with other guys.”

 

“Not my fault. He divorced his wife, his kid plays chess alone, and his psychiatrist… means well, i guess you could say. I’m Kevin’s brother, no, step brother, too. How normal do you want me to be?”

 

That left them speechless.

 

“What do you-”

 

“Oh, and they’re all jewish. Sort of. I’m not entirely sure on the psychiatrist. I’m fairly sure he is.”

 

“What do you… i have  _ so  _ many questions,” Arnold shook his head.

 

“You’re explaining later, right?”

 

“Do you really want me to?” Whizzer shrugged. “What do you want me to explain? We weren’t compatible. Fights fairly often. I’m not too surprised it fell apart.”

 

“Oh. What about his son?” Arnold looked in the rear view mirror as he spoke. 

 

“Oh, Jason? Good kid. Pretty nice. Didn’t completely hate me when he had all right to.”

 

Silence. 

 

“I’m going to pull over here so you two can switch,” Arnold motioned towards a gas station not too far away. 

 

“Okay, thanks,” 

 

Once they pulled in and Arnold stopped the car, Nabulungi climbed out and switched places with Connor, who ended up between the two brothers. 

 

“You two better not fight.” He glared at them as he spoke. 

 

“We won’t,” Whizzer raised his hands in mock surrender. 

 

“I’ll do my best,” Kevin glared at his brother. His gaze softening as he looked at Connor. “I won’t,” he decided. 

 

“Good.” Connor nodded, sitting back in the chair. 

 

“Just please, for the love of whatever the hell you all believe in, don’t dance around each other and don’t flirt.” Whizzer glared at the two, Kevin raising his eyebrows and Connor shaking his head. Arnold looked back at them, whispering something to Nabulungi. 

 

“Language.” Kevin said eventually. 

 

“Oh, fuck you. Like you care.”

 

“I’d prefer not to, thanks though,” 

 

“I thought you two agreed not to fight?” Connor grabbed Kevin’s hand as he spoke. 

 

“Fine.” Whizzer turned and looked out the window. 

 

“Sorry,” Kevin rubbed Connor’s hand as he apologized. 

 

“Sure you are,” Connor smiled, leaning into his friend. 

 

“Definitely,”

 

Whizzer rolled his eyes. 

 

“How much farther?” Whizzer’s impatience was barely masked. 

 

“We’re almost there,” Arnold nodded as Nabulungi spoke. 

 

Whizzer nodded, glancing over at his brother and giving him a quick thumbs up. 

 

He was determined that even if he didn’t get anything productive done in way of work, he’d get his brother a boyfriend. And that boyfriend would be Elder Connor McKinley. 

 

Whizzer looked down when he felt his phone buzz, the screen lighting up when he checked it. 

 

_ Hi Whizzer! How’re you doing? _

 

It was a text from Jason. 

 

_ Hi Jason! I’m okay, I’m with my brother. What about you? _

 

Whizzer read over the message a couple times before sending it. 

 

_ I’m okay. Dad took me to the park. We miss you _

 

Whizzer held his breath for a second. 

 

_ I miss you too _

 

He looked over at Kevin, who was giving him a questioning look. 

 

_ What about your brother? What’s his name? _

 

Whizzer laughed a little. 

 

_ His name is Kevin. If you want I can send a picture _

 

The answer came fairly quickly. 

 

_ Cool! Sure!! _

 

Whizzer tried to grab Kevin and Connor’s attention. 

 

“Hey, wanna take a picture?”

 

“Sure, why?” Connor was curious as he asked, sitting up a little. 

 

“I’m going to send one to Jason, he just texted me,”

 

“Sure, I’m fine with it,” 

 

“Okay,”

 

They all ended up crowded together, trying to get a good picture. Once they finally did, Whizzer sent it to Jason, who responded after a minute. 

 

_ He’s the guy that looks like you, right? You two look a lot alike. Who’s the guy in the middle? Are they all being nice to you? _

 

Whizzer laughed a little. 

 

_ Yeah, they’re all being nice to me. The guy in the middle is Connor, he’s one of Kevin’s friends. _

 

_ Ooh cool!! Do you know if I’ll ever get to meet them? _

 

_ I don’t know, maybe. We’ll have to see! _

 

_ I think it’d be fun to meet them. When will we be able to see you again? _

 

_ I don’t know, does your dad seriously want to see me though? _

 

_ I… don’t know. He seems different now that you’re gone. I think he misses you. I don’t know though. Everything feels different, more empty, now that you’re gone. Can you come back soon? _

 

_ I don’t know, I’m sorry. I don’t think your mom wants to see me for a little bit, and I don’t blame her, and I don’t know about your dad. We’ll have to see _

 

_ Okay. I’ve gotta go, Dad’s calling, I’ll talk to you later!! Bye Whizzer _

 

_ Bye Jason _

 

_ Love you! _

 

_ Love you too, kid _

 

Whizzer smiled a little, closing his phone and putting it back in his pocket. 

 

“So, tell me more about how you all met,” Whizzer prompted, laughing a little at the looks on everyone’s faces. 

 

“Okay. So, Arnold and I met because he was my mission companion. We’re stuck together. Uh… I met Connor because he’s the mission leader? I think. Yeah. He gave us an entire tap number about hiding our feelings-“

 

“What else did you want me to do?”

 

“I don’t know. And we met Nabulungi because she’s the chief’s daughter. Arnold baptized her,”

 

“They started dating not too long after,” Connor put in. 

 

“Yeah, and there’s also that one maggots guy,” Arnold added. 

 

“What?”

 

“He… did he ever get that looked at? He says he has maggots in his-“

 

“And I think that’s enough of this conversation for today!” Kevin cut his friend off. 

 

Whizzer shrugged. What more could he do? He looked back out the window, watching trees go by. 

 

Connor grabbed Kevin’s hand again, leaning his head on the other’s shoulder and smiling softly as he yawned. 

 

When they finally got to the IHOP, Whizzer was close to cheering. Arnold parked the car, letting them all get out, and was a little surprised when Whizzer gave him a small hug. 

 

“Thanks for watching out for him,” he whispered, motioning towards Kevin. 

 

“He’s my best friend, of course I would! And I’d say he’s done a lot of watching out for me, too.”

 

“I’m glad he has a good friend,”

 

“He has a few good friends,”

 

“Okay,  _ that’s  _ actually a little surprising. How’d he end up with more friends than just you three?”

 

“Oh, no, he’s got a crush on Connor, that’s why they’re so close. The others are all elders, so we don’t really have a choice, we all have to try to get along,”

 

“Okay, good. You see it too. Want to help me set them up?” 

 

Arnold looked unsure. “I’d be glad to help, I just don’t know how,”

 

“It’s not too hard, we’d be able to do it.”

 

“I’m for it,”

 

“You know what we should do? We should have a sleepover with Kevin. Tonight. We can kick Connor out, make him sleep in your room or something.”

 

“That’d be fun, but… Connor’s probably tired, and he needs sleep,”

 

“I know. It’s part… i dont know. I guess i'm trying to prove a point? But that’s not important. We can kick him into your room, I think having some friend and brother bonding time would be good for Kevin,”

 

“I’m okay with it,” Arnold nodded as he spoke. 

 

Whizzer nodded, walking towards Kevin and almost jumping on the other man, who smacked him. 

 

“What?” Whizzer looked at Connor. “Do you see how mean he is?”

 

Connor laughed a little, nodding. “Yeah, he’s such a mean person,” 

 

Kevin’s little look of offense was enough to make Whizzer and Connor laugh harder. 

 

“I’m just kidding,” Connor grabbed his hand and squeezed it. 

 

“Surrrre,”

 

“I’m sorry,” Whizzer shook his head. 

 

“No, you’re not,”

 

“You’re right. I’m not. Hey, Kevin, is it okay if I talk to you? Alone, that is.”

 

“Uh… sure. Give me a couple minutes, we can step outside for a second after they’re all seated,”

 

“Okay, thanks,”

 

The group continued into the restaurant, sitting in a booth with Nabulungi and Arnold on one side and Kevin, Connor, and Whizzer on the other. Kevin and Whizzer stood up after ordering their drinks so they could talk outside, Whizzer seeming like he  _ needed  _ to talk to his brother. 

 

“What is it?” Kevin crossed his arms as he spoke once they were outside and alone. 

 

“I’m sorry,”

 

“What for?”

 

“I didn’t… I’m sorry. That’s… yeah. This is the only time I’ll say it.”

 

“Wait, are you apologizing for when you fucking slammed the door as you walked out of the house after calling us all bitches and saying you never wanted to fucking see us again, or when you picked a fight with dad, or when you texted me, out of the blue,  _ years later  _ after  _ little to no contact?” _

 

“I… all of it. You… I can’t explain it. I’m sorry. I don’t deserve any of this, and yet you’re giving me another chance.”

 

“You’re my brother. Of course I am.”

 

“When are we going to tell them?”

 

“Tell them what?”

 

“About…”

 

“Hopefully… I don’t know. We shouldn’t have started it,”

 

“I know. Weren’t you the one that said it first?”

 

“I don’t remember. Yeah, I think so.”

 

“But that’s not important. Just… know that I’m sorry. I feel bad for what I did. I’m glad I’m being given another chance, and I… yeah. Thanks.”

 

“It’s not a problem.”

 

“Now, we need to talk about you and Connor.”

 

“What about us?”

 

“Listen. I know this is getting annoying. But I actually do need to know something: what’s it like in Uganda? Like… the setup. I don’t… i don’t know if you all really want-“

 

“You’re coming.”

 

“I… i don’t know. I’m running from-“

 

“No. You’re trying to start over from something when you weren’t as good. You can change.”

 

“That’s what you think,”

 

“No. It’s what I know.”

 

“Okay. I don’t have the energy to fight with you.”

 

“I think you should try to talk to Mom and Dad. Apologize, or at least try to explain.”

 

“They made their thoughts perfectly clear.”

 

“I know, but… they… they missed you after you left.”

 

“Sure.”

 

“They did. Both wished they hadn’t reacted the way they did,”

 

“I’ll call them later then.”

 

“Thank you,”

 

“Yep,”

 

“Wanna go back inside?”

 

“Sure,”

 

With that, the two brothers plastered on smiles and went back inside the restaurant, sliding back into the booth. Kevin smiled when he saw his coffee had arrived, taking a sip of it before looking up at Arnold. 


	8. Chocolate Chip Pancakes, Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So for some reason I can't see Connor's last name without thinking "Mckinky"?? So this has been fun trying to write without bursting into laughter or messing up the spelling really badly.
> 
> Also, yes, I realize I'm technically updating a day early, but it's only like... ten minutes until it's Tuesday. So. I'm updating on the right day.

“You excited?” He asked the other man, who nodded. They were going to take a day to look at Star Wars stuff because of the other man’s love of the series. 

 

“Yeah! I’m gonna do the lightsaber fight, and I’m gonna get Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker and Han Solo’s autograph. Princess Leia too. Do you think Chewbacca could sign something too?”

 

“I don’t know, maybe,” Kevin nodded.

 

Arnold was almost jumping in his chair from excitement, thinking about what they would be doing later.

 

“Are you going to join us?” Arnold’s question was directed at Whizzer, who shrugged.

 

“I don’t know yet,” Whizzer answered, shrugging as he took a sip of his own hot chocolate. 

 

“You can if you want, you don’t have to,” Kevin gave a concerned look as he spoke.

 

“I might. I’m still kinda tired, though, so I don’t know yet,” Whizzer raised his eyebrows as he looked at his brother when responding.

 

“Okay, if you’re sure you’re alright,”

 

“When was anyone okay? Genuinely okay?”

 

“Uh… yesterday?” Nabulungi questioned.

 

“Oh. How?” Whizzer seemed genuinely curious.

 

“You don’t sleep around, you don’t-” Kevin started.

 

“Okay, okay, I get it,” Whizzer glared at Kevin as he spoke.

 

“Whatever. Hasa diga.” 

 

“What?”

 

“Kevin!” Arnold and Connor both seemed shocked, Connor smacking his arm.

 

“Yes?” Kevin asked innocently.

 

“Language!”

 

“What did he say?”

 

“Fuck you,” Kevin laughed as he translated.

 

“Really?” Whizzer wasn’t impressed.

 

“Shut up. You’re not any better.”

 

“Stop fighting,” Nabulungi cut into their conversation, daring them to continue fighting.

 

“Fine,” Whizzer shook his head. “What are we doing later?”

 

“Disney. We’re taking Arnold to see the Star Wars area in Disney World, tomorrow we hope to hit Sea World, then the next day we’re going to take a break and stay in the hotel so we can all get some rest. The day after that, we hope to go to Universal, and we’re going to go back the next day so we can see what we didn’t the day before. Next, we go back to Disney, we’re not sure what we’re going to see yet. We’re going back to Uganda in a week and a half, and yes, you can come with us. We don’t really seem to have too much of a choice, so unless you miraculously get back with your ex-boy-”

 

“That’s not happening.” Whizzer interrupted his brother.

 

“Exactly. So we don’t really have too much of a choice,”

 

“Okay, yeah. That’s okay,”

 

“We’re still going to come and visit the United States every so often for a couple weeks at a time, since we’ve all got family here and stuff, so you’re still going to come back,”

 

“Okay. Are you guys ever going to come back permanently, or…?” Whizzer let his sentence drift off as a waitress made her way towards the group, ready to take their orders.

 

“I can take your orders now, if you’re ready,” she said, not unkindly.

 

“One regular pancake for me,” Whizzer rolled his eyes at his brother when he spoke.

 

“Really, Kevin, get creative.”

 

“What? They’re good,”

 

“Whatever. I’ll take a chocolate chip pancake,” Whizzer’s voice took a kinder tone as he addressed the waitress, who nodded.

 

“Chocolate chip pancake for me, as well, please,” Connor ordered, earning an approving nod from Whizzer, who leaned over to Kevin.

 

“I approve of this one. Keep him.” Kevin raised his eyebrows at his whispering brother.

 

“I wasn’t planning on kicking him out, if that’s what you mean,”

 

Whizzer nodded, looking at Connor. “You’re staying.” It was a statement. “You’ve been adopted. You’re part of the family now.”

 

Connor nodded, unsure of how to respond. “Thanks?” it came out as a question. Whizzer nodded. 

 

“Chocolate chip pancakes all around!” Arnold was excited as he spoke, and Kevin looked about to protest before Whizzer gave him a look and nodded at the waitress to bring everyone chocolate chip pancakes.

 

Once she left, Kevin glared at his brother. “I wanted a-”

 

“Learn to live a little.” Whizzer rolled his eyes as he spoke.

 

“Says-”

 

“No.  We’re not fucking using that against me, okay? I think you’d have half a mind to know this.”

 

“Whatever.” the two brothers crossed their arms, how similar they looked suddenly hitting the group as they both sported the same upset, almost annoyed expression.

 

“How-” Connor began, but he was cut off by Whizzer.

 

“We’re brothers. What do you expect?” Whizzer rolled his eyes, unimpressed by the question.

 

“I thought you said you were step brothers?” Nabulungi was looking at them as if she wasn’t sure what they said was entirely believable.

 

“Yeah, Kevin. Explain that.” Whizzer raised his eyebrows at his brother.

 

“Oh look, our food’s here,” Arnold noted, not liking the turn the conversation had taken and not liking the air around the group.

 

Whizzer smiled at the waitress as she put his pancake in front of him, an almost forced smile. Kevin did as well, almost wincing when he saw that she had put down for him to have chocolate chips on his pancake. He had wanted a regular pancake. Was that too much to ask?

 

Everyone else seemed to like their pancake, but Kevin glared at his for a good minute or two before Connor and Whizzer both attempted to steal off his plate, which made him glare at them instead as he took a bite out of his food. Once they all finished eating, they went back to the hotel so they could make sure they had what they needed before going to Disney World.

 

Whizzer somehow ended up getting dragged along, as well as Kevin and Connor, all of which were tired and kind of just wanted to sleep.

 

They enjoyed Disney World, Arnold got to get Darth Vader’s autograph, as well as Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Han Solo.

 

The amount of pictures Whizzer took in that day alone were enough to make him groan at the thought of having to upload them all to a computer so he could free up space on his camera.

 

They got back to their hotel at about nine that night, as they went out to eat and ended up driving around a little after spending most of their day at Disney.

 

When they got back to the hotel, Whizzer fell onto his bed face down, tired from the long day and not getting enough sleep, before picking himself back up and looking over at Kevin.

 

“We should have a sleepover,” he said.

 

“What? Aren’t we kind of already having one?”

 

“No, not like this. We get Arnold in here, kick Connor out,”

 

“I’m fine with it, if you guys want to have Arnold in here for a night, I can sleep in their room,” Connor nodded, showing he was okay with it. Kevin nodded uncertainly before Arnold came bursting into the room, already in pajamas.

 

“Did he say yes?” the man was clearly excited. Whizzer laughed a little as he nodded.

 

“Yeah, we’re kicking Connor out for tonight and you’re sleeping in here,” 

 

“Sorry, Connor,” Kevin apologized to the other man, who smiled a little.

 

“It’s fine. You can have some best friend and brother bonding time. I’ll still get sleep, I’ll be fine,”

 

Kevin only nodded, unsure. 

 

“It’ll be fun!” Arnold was… excited. 

 

“Yeah, Kevin, it’ll be fun,” Whizzer nodded.

 

“If you say so,” Kevin found himself sitting cross-legged on his bed, watching as Whizzer shoved Connor through the door. When he had gotten the other man into the other room and closed and locked the door, Whizzer turned to look around the room.

 

“So…” he jumped onto the bed, mimicking his brother’s sitting position and patting a spot for Arnold to sit. “What do we wanna talk about first?”

 

“What all happened to you?”

 

“I already explained it,”

 

“I… what I’m asking is do Arnold and I need to go and fight someone?”

 

“No, no. It’s kind of my fault, I guess. I… you know.”

 

“Okay. If you say so.”

 

“How about we play a game?”

 

“Ooh! Like what?” Arnold was genuinely curious as he asked the question.

 

“Truth or dare?”

 

“No…” Kevin found his voice trailing off as he was overruled by his best friend and brother.

 

“Who wants to start?” Whizzer asked, getting into a more comfortable position.

 

“I can,” Kevin sighed, resigned to his fate as he spoke.”Whizzer, truth or dare?”

 

“Dare.”

 

“I… I don’t know. Lick the wall or something.”

 

“Really? Fine. We’ll play truth or dare later then. How about we talk about how I found out today that a certain Connor McKinley would most likely go out with you if you asked him?”

 

“No! How about we just watch a movie or something?” 

 

“Fine. What do we all want to watch?”

 

“Harry Potter would be good,” Arnold offered.

 

“I’m okay with that. Kevin?”

 

“Yeah, that’s good. They probably have it on one of the stations,” Kevin nodded as he spoke.

 

“Do we want to let Connor back in, or-” Arnold got cut off by Whizzer, who shrugged.

 

“If you really want to, I guess. He might be asleep-”

 

“I highly doubt he’s asleep.” Kevin interrupted his brother.

 

“We’re all exhausted, you’d be amazed at how quickly a person can go out,” Whizzer raised his eyebrows as he spoke, almost as if he was daring his brother to challenge him.

 

“Connor has nightly hell dreams. I’m willing to bet he’d stay up to avoid them.” Kevin raised his head higher, standing a little straighter. 

 

“Go see, then.” Whizzer’s response was short. Kevin gave a single nod before standing and going to the door, knocking on it gently. 

 

“Yeah?” Nabulungi’s voice called through the door. 

 

“Can I come in?” Kevin was quiet and gentle as he asked.

 

“Yeah, come on in,” Nabulungi gave her approval, and Kevin opened the door to see Connor sitting cross-legged on one bed and Nabulungi sitting with her legs hanging off the edge of the other.

 

“If Connor wants, he can come back to our room. We’ve decided we’re going to watch a movie. You can come in, too, Nabulungi, if you want. We’re watching Harry Potter,”

 

“Which one?” Connor perked up at the sound of a movie.

 

“We don’t know yet,”

 

“Okay. I’ll start moving back in,” Connor teased.

 

“Sounds good,”  Kevin nodded, entering the room and sitting on the bed with Connor. “Need any help?”

 

“No, thanks, I don’t really have anything  _ to  _ move. Thanks though,”

 

Kevin nodded. “Okay. We’ll be waiting for you,”  he stood, going back to his own room and looking at the tv, where the screen was showing the opening for some Harry Potter movie. He hadn’t ever really seen them, so he wasn’t sure which it was from.

 

“They’re showing Order of the Phoenix!” Arnold seemed excited by the fact that he presented his friend with.

 

“Cool,” Kevin wasn’t sure how he was supposed to react, so he hoped it was the right way. 

 

He sat on one of the beds, waiting for Connor to enter the room and smiling as he saw Whizzer wrapped in one of the blankets on the bed and watching the movie contentedly, with Arnold on the floor between the two beds. When Connor came into the room, Kevin patted the spot on the bed by him for the other man to sit, which he took. Nabulungi sat by Arnold, who wrapped an arm around her. Kevin considered putting his arm around Connor, but decided against it and instead grabbed the other’s hand and wrapped the blanket around the two. They cuddled the entire movie, Connor falling asleep about halfway through, curled up by Kevin with his arm across the other man and cuddled up to Kevin, who wasn’t making any complaints. When the movie finished, Arnold and Nabulungi tried to leave the room as quietly as possible, actually somewhat succeeding. It wasn’t until Kevin heard quiet sobbing, barely able to be heard, that he started to get nervous. He looked over at his brother’s bed to find that Whizzer was just a shaking lump on the bed. He looked down at Connor, who was sleeping peacefully for the second time in forever, and tried to remove himself from the other man’s grasp, not wanting to wake him up.

 

“Whizzer? You okay?” he whispered across the room. A single sniffle was all that answered him. “Hey, Con, I have to get up,” Kevin sighed as he looked at the half asleep redhead, who cracked his eyes open. He sat up, rubbed his eyes, pecked Kevin on the cheek, and laid back down with his back to the other man, curled up. Kevin was shocked for a second before remembering he had something he wanted to do. He shook himself, taking the covers off and going over to Whizzer’s bed. “Hey,”

 

“What do you want?” the voice was rough. He had obviously been crying.

 

“Sit up.” Kevin knew the only way to get his brother to talk was to demand it out of him at this point. Whizzer grumpily complied, the bundle of blankets rising but still covering him completely. “Blanket down.” Whizzer grumbled, but obeyed.

 

“Happy?”

 

“What happened? I know this isn’t just because Sirius Black died.”

 

“I… am I… He kicked me out. Am I really just a pretty boy?”

 

“No, no. Whizzer, listen to me: Marvin is a dick. Yeah, you’re pretty I guess, but you’re more than that. You can completely cream everyone in this room in a game of raquetball and you’re one of the best baseball players I’ve ever seen. Have you even seen the pictures you’ve taken before? They’re amazing. You’re more than just a pretty face and Marvin was an idiot for not seeing that.”

 

“I just… I had a life there. People who cared about me. I fucked up their lives, and then i just… left. I’m terrible.”

 

“No. You didn’t. They let you in, and then they kicked you out. That’s their own fault. You’re pretty amazing if you ask me,” 

 

“I… thanks. I guess it’s just the breakup,”

 

“You’ve been over for close to a week, though. Why is it suddenly hitting now?”

 

“I… I haven’t been able to really stop and cry for a while. And… I… I don’t know. I’m sorry. I should be okay soon, I’m sorry for all this,”

 

“No, it’s okay. It’s not a problem. You’re my brother,”

 

“I… thanks. Did we bring in any donuts from yesterday?”

 

“Yeah, I think so. Want me to get you one?”

 

“Please? A maple one. So I can  _ actually  _ have one, instead of just get  _ framed  _ for eating one.”

 

“That happened years ago! When are you going to let that go?” Kevin laughed a little as he stood and made his way to the box of donuts, getting a maple glazed one for his brother.

 

“I’m not,” Whizzer stuck his tongue out as his brother, wiping his eyes before accepting the donut. “You got me in trouble for something i never did,” 

 

“I’m sorry, I apologized for that a  _ while  _ ago,”

 

“I know, and it’s okay,” Whizzer took a bite of his donut, chewing thoughtfully and nodding. “How’s Connor doing?” he didn’t seem teasing when he asked, he seemed genuinely concerned and inquisitive.

 

“He was okay. He’s still asleep, he seems okay,”

 

“Good,”

 

“He kissed me,”

 

“What? Tell me!” Whizzer sat so that he was cross-legged on the bed, patting in front of him for his brother to sit.

 

“It was when I was getting up to come over here, he was all cuddled up to me and he was half asleep when he sat up, pecked my cheek, and rolled over to go back to sleep. I’m sure it was nothing,”

 

“Sure it was! When people are tired or half asleep they let their guards down and they’re brutally honest. He meant it.”

 

“I guess,”

 

“I know it. Now, it’s late. I’m tired. You’re tired. Go curl up with Connor and go to sleep,” Whizzer smiled at his brother before finishing the donut and laying down himself, turning over and closing his eyes.

 

“Okay. Night, love you,”

 

“Night, love you too, Kevin. Go to sleep.”    
  


Kevin shook his head, smiling a little as he went back to his own bed and laying down on it, curling himself around Connor and kissing the other man on the top of the head, wrapping his arms around him.

 

Connor turned around, wrapping his arms around Kevin as well and burying his head into his chest. Kevin smiled into the other’s hair a little, closing his own eyes and going to sleep.

 

When he woke up the next morning, he was alone in bed and Whizzer was looking down at him.

 

“Hey, Mickey, you’ve seen him more in the past few months than I have. Is this normal for his morning routine?”

 

“Yeah, give him a second and he’ll be up,” Connor’s voice came from somewhere by the tv.

 

“Okay,” Whizzer shrugged and moved away, Kevin sitting up.

 

“Since when is Connor called Mickey?”

 

“Since I realized how close his last name was to Mickey,” 

 

“Really?” Kevin shook his head, pushing the covers off and throwing his legs over the side of the bed and standing up. Connor smiled at him, walking over and giving him a cup of coffee. Kevin took it gratefully, smiling softly at the other man. “Thanks,”

 

“What are we doing today?” Whizzer looked at Kevin, sipping his own coffee.

 

“SeaWorld, remember?”

 

“Oh yeah. Get dressed, then,” Whizzer looked at his brother over his cup, smiling a little.

 

“Fine,” Kevin groaned, tipping his head back and chugging the coffee before making his way to his bag and grabbing some clothes.

 

“How’d you sleep last night?”

 

“I slept okay,” Whizzer nodded, smiling at his brother, who groaned.

 

“How the fuck are you both so happy and cheery?”

 

“We’ve been up for half an hour, Love,” Connor hugged Kevin from behind before letting go and pushing him in the direction of the bathroom. “I slept well, too,” 

 

Kevin nodded, closing the door and changing before opening the door again and exiting the room.

 

“Are they ready?” he gestured in the direction of Arnold and Nabulungi’s room.

 

“I think so, we talked to them not too long before we woke you up. We were thinking about getting breakfast from somewhere and bringing it back, does that sound okay to you?” Connor asked him, cocking his head to one side.

 

“Yeah, that’s good. Who’s going to get it?”

 

“I’m willing to, if anyone wants to come with me they can, I don’t really care. I think Connor said he was coming with me, right?” Whizzer raised a hand as he spoke, drawing attention to himself. Connor nodded. “You can come, too,” Whizzer directed the statement at Kevin, who nodded as well, going to the bed and sitting on it. 

 

“I think I’ll go, if that’s okay, so I can make sure you get the right stuff,”

 

“You don’t trust me?” Whizzer gasped. 

 

“It’s not that, I just… I want to be on the safe side, you know?”

 

“Yeah, I know,”

 

“When are you going to call Mom and Dad?” Whizzer groaned at his brother’s question. “No, I haven’t forgotten that. We’ll do it later.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Because you need to explain. You need to tell them. We’ve all grown since then, please, just try to talk to them. If it doesn’t go well, or you don’t want to talk to either of them again, I won’t make you, it’s your choice. But please, at least tell them you’re still alive and that you’re with me so they know,”

 

“Fine. I’ll do it after SeaWorld, sound good?”

 

“Thank you. I won’t ask you to again, I promise. Unless after you call them today you decide you want to talk to them again.”

 

“Alright.” Whizzer checked the time on his phone, surprised to see a text from a couple minutes ago on the screen. 

 

_ Whizzer? _

 

_ Jason? Is everything okay? _

 

_ I… don’t know. Whizzer, do you… do you love my dad? _

 

Whizzer looked up, staring at Kevin, who gave him a questioning look. 

 

“Are you okay?” Kevin was almost concerned. 

 

“I don’t… Kevin?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Come… come here,” Whizzer beckoned for his brother to stand by him, giving his phone to the other man numbly. 

 

“Oh my god,” Kevin took in a sharp breath. “Are you… are you okay?”

 

“I don’t… i don’t know. I don’t know what to tell him,”

 

“Tell him the truth,” Kevin looked up, making eye contact with Connor, who was a little concerned at the two brother’s reactions to whatever was on the phone screen. 

 

“Okay. This is okay.” Whizzer nodded, accepting his phone back from Kevin, who went to sit by Connor on the bed. 

 

_ No. I’m sorry Jason, but… no. I don’t. I don’t think so, at least. Not anymore, if I ever did before.  _

 

_ Okay. That’s okay. _

 

A pause. 

 

_ Whizzer? _

 

_ Yeah? Are you okay? _

 

_ Yeah, I guess. How’re you? _

 

_ I’m okay, I’ve been with my brother still. We might be going to Uganda! _

 

_ Oh cool! How long will you be gone? _

 

_ I don’t know yet, we’ll be visiting the US sometimes though.  _

 

_ Okay, yeah. _

 

_ Are you sure you’re okay?? If there’s anything going on you can tell me _

 

_ I… it’s just Dad.  _

 

_ What did he do now? _

 

_ He doesn’t like Mendel and Mom dating. It’s probably nothing, at least nothing too big. He’ll calm down, right? _

 

_ Hopefully. There’s a chance, yeah. What about you? How do you feel about it? _

 

_ I’m okay with it if he’s good to her.  _

 

_ Yeah, I don’t blame you.  _

 

Whizzer put his phone in his pocket after watching the screen go dark, looking to his brother for confirmation that they were leaving to go get breakfast soon. When he received nothing but a shrug from Kevin, he sighed and grabbed the keys off the table. 

 

“Come on. I’m leaving, anyone that’s coming with me better come on. I’m not waiting.” Whizzer started out the door, Connor gesturing for Kevin to come on and follow them before going to stand in front of Kevin, grabbing his hand and practically dragging him out of the room before running to catch up with Whizzer and leaving Kevin behind. 

 

Kevin could see the two whispering ahead of him, and as he got closer to the two he could hear a faint “sparkly vest?” and “really? That’d be amazing!” Kevin shook his head, wondering why he didn’t expect Connor to offer a vest sooner.

 

“Did Connor offer to make you a pink sparkly vest?”

 

“Yeah, he just did!” Whizzer seemed almost… excited? At the idea of getting one. Connor nodded, seeming quite excited himself.

 

“Yeah! We might have to wait until we get back to Uganda, though, since I left all the stuff to make it there. Do you still have yours, Kevin?” At Connor’s question, Whizzer almost started to laugh.

 

“You… Kevin wore one?”

 

“Yes, I did, actually,” Kevin suddenly felt the odd need to defend himself, except he was trying to say that he wore one of the vests, so he was a little confused, but figured it was just because it was his brother that said it. 

 

“Woah. I’m actually surprised,” Whizzer wasn’t sarcastic as he spoke, he was almost concerned for his brother. He never would’ve thought his brother would wear a pink sparkly vest, but then he remembered Connor was the one that gave it to him. 

 

“You have  _ that  _ little faith in me?”

 

“Do you want the honest answer? Yes.”

 

“Really? Thanks.” Kevin and Whizzer seemed done with each other, and they let the conversation fall as they got into the car. Connor felt what could almost be described as tension, but was most likely the normal sibling dislike. Add the fact that Kevin was most definitely going to make Whizzer call their parents, who seemed to make Whizzer uncomfortable upon mention. Connor considered saying something about it, but decided against it as Kevin patted the seat by him in the back for him to sit. Connor did so, smiling a little, almost uncomfortably as he sat in the chair, seeing Kevin was a little tense but unsure how to help. He considered asking if there was a way to help, but decided against it as the quiet was almost nice. He decided to just reach a hand across the seat, giving Kevin a little nudge before pulling his hand back into his lap. He felt a little poke in his side in answer, and Connor looked over at Kevin, who was now looking out the window, grinning a little at the other man before poking him back. Kevin looked over at Connor, an almost forced smile on his face as he poked the man again. Connor hoped his face showed the concern he felt, reaching over and patting Kevin’s knee before rubbing his leg, stopping when Kevin put a hand over his own. 

 

“Where do you think we should get some breakfast from?” Whizzer asked, looking in the rearview mirror as he did so. 

 

“Anywhere’s fine. We could probably stop at McDonald’s if you want to,” Kevin was the one that answered, looking to Connor for approval. He just nodded a little, looking out the window before sneaking a look at Kevin, finding himself studying the other man’s face when Kevin wasn’t watching, the other man looking out the window himself now. He almost looked away when Kevin looked over at him, smiling a little, but instead he smiled back, laughing a little. He turned to look out his own window to see where they were, and wasn’t too surprised to see Whizzer was pulling into a Chik-fil-a instead of McDonald’s. 

 

“Kevin, I’m sorry, but no McDonald’s. It’s disgusting.” Whizzer looked back at his brother, shaking his head as he spoke. “You’re the only person that even thought about it. Do you want a coffee?”

 

“Su-”

 

“Another one?” Connor cut Kevin off. “Is that even healthy?”

 

“...Probably not, but since when have we ever cared about that?” it was Whizzer that answered. Kevin nodded.

 

“He makes a good point.”

 

Connor could only look at them incredulously. “You… should care about your health? I care. Arnold cares. There’s plenty of people that care about you.” 

 

Whizzer and Kevin both looked at Connor, letting his words register. 

 

“You’re all insane, then,” Whizzer finally said before getting out of the car, gesturing for Connor and Kevin to join him. The two did, Connor telling Kevin that no, he wasn’t allowed to drink five cups of coffee as they did so, Kevin only laughing a little and shaking his head with whispers that Connor wasn’t his parent, but his friend- only his friend, nothing more, but of course neither directly stated this, however much they wished the statement was false- and couldn’t tell him what he was allowed to do. 


	9. The World as We All Know it is Ending, Part One in a Three-Part Trilogy.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: THERE IS A TERRIBLY WRITTEN ARGUMENT IN THIS CHAPTER.
> 
> I'm not kidding- the argument that takes place could've been written a lot better, but lack of the ability to write a decent argument about what the argument is about prevented it from not being crappy. 
> 
> So, warning, there's a crappy argument in this chapter, but one half of the argument is homophobic and ends in a character getting kicked out.

“I’m just saying.”

“Whizzer!” Kevin smacked his brother as they walked out of the park.

“What?!”

“He makes a good point. I’d probably run away with Pierre too,” Connor nodded, Whizzer giving Kevin a look.

“See? I’m not insane.”

“You… why. Why are you like this?” Kevin shook his head, crossing his arms.

“Oh, don’t be sour. At least we didn’t say anything about Anatole.”

“Yes, Whizzer makes a point. He may be beautiful, but no. I’d choose Pierre any day.”

“Thank you!” Whizzer started walking backwards, throwing his arms out to Connor so he was almost pointing at him. “You understand!”

“Whatever. Wasn’t he the-”

“He was the good one.” Whizzer cut his brother off, already knowing what the question would be. Connor nodded in agreement, looking over at Kevin.

“He is.”

“What about Pride and Prejudice characters?  I’d probably bang Mr. Darcy.”

“Whizzer!” Kevin shook his head, starting to laugh a little as he looked around. “There are children around!” 

“I mean, I’d love to meet him, yeah. Maybe not go that far, but he was pretty beautiful,” Connor nodded.

“Arnold, help me,” Kevin looked back to his friend for help, and only got a shrug and a head shake in answer.

“Sorry, I don’t know,” Arnold shrugged again. Kevin let himself slow down, walking with his friend instead of his brother and… other friend?

“They’re going to drive me crazy if they talk about another fictional crush they have, I’m not joking. I’ve had enough of Jay Gatsby and Romeo Montague, I’ll probably rip my hair out if I hear about Mr. Rochester, and please don’t start on, what was his name, Westley? Yeah. Westley. They claim that Gatsby and Romeo aren’t that great and they wouldn’t run away with those two, but they probably would with all the others. Someone help us.”

“Good luck, seriously. That’s your people.”

“I don’t claim them. Someone else can take them. Please.”

“...do you really want to get rid of them, though?”

“No, I guess not. Where do you want to eat?”  

“Anywhere is fine with me. What was that one place we passed? We could see if there’s a Rainforest Cafe, if you’re up for it. We could always just go to Wendy’s, too,” 

“Yeah, I’m with you. I say Wendy’s, just because it’s easy. We’ll hit the Rainforest Cafe before we leave, I can promise you that,” Kevin nodded as he spoke, picking up his pace so he could talk to his friend and brother.  “What do you two say to Wendy’s?”

“That’s fine,”

“Yeah, that’s good,” Connor nodded.

“I approve in your taste. This one’s good. Keep him.” Whizzer pointed at Connor as he told Kevin this, smiling faintly as he saw the two trying to take in what he said before speeding his pace so the two weren’t near him when they realized what he said.

“Whizzer!” Kevin shouted before shaking his head, done with his brother. “C’mon, we should probably try to get to the car so we can let him into it,”  

“Okay. Are you still going to make him…?”

“Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me! I almost forgot.” Kevin grabbed Connor’s hand to drag him across the parking lot, running after his brother.

“KEVIN!” They could hear Whizzer shout as they got nearer, laughing a little at the sight of Whizzer attempting to open the door as he exaggerated the difficulty.

“WHIZZER,” Kevin shouted back, laughing after doing so.

“Can you unlock the door?” Whizzer’s voice was normal when he asked. Kevin nodded, fishing the keys out of his pocket and unlocking the car, getting in the front seat and unlocking the rest of the doors so his brother and friend could get into the car as well, cranking it and climbing into the backseat so Arnold and Nabulungi could sit in the front. Connor ended up between the two brothers again, Whizzer immediately starting another conversation with him about something or other, Kevin wasn’t really paying any attention to whatever it was they were talking about. He was thankful when Arnold and Nabulungi got to the car, causing Connor and Whizzer to look up from their conversation. 

“We’re going to Wendy’s to eat dinner before going back to the hotel,” Kevin announced as Arnold and Nabulungi got into the car, Whizzer making a face at the declaration but making no complaint otherwise. Arnold was the one driving again, as no one was quite sure they trusted Whizzer to drive and Nabulungi and Arnold were both happy sitting up front instead of in the back with him. No one trusted Kevin to drive with Whizzer next to him, either.

“That’ll be good. What are we doing tomorrow?” Connor looked over at Kevin when he asked the question.

“Does a break sound good? We can just stay in the hotel for the day and watch movies or something, maybe we can interrogate Whizzer,”

“I have some objections about that idea,” Whizzer raised a hand.

“Too bad. Also, we need to make Whizzer call Mom and Dad.”

“No.” Whizzer glared at his brother.

“We agreed.”

“Once, then. And that’s it.”

“I won’t make you call them again if you don’t want to after this. But please, just let them know you’re still alive.”

“Fine. Give me your phone. Are you happy? I’ll call them right now. Sound good? You all can hear the inevitable screaming match.”

“Whizzer-” 

“That’s what’s going to happen! I know it! You know it! It’s going to happen! It’s what happened before I left!”

“Just… please. They’re not the same. I promise. They… please try to be civil. I doubt there’ll be a big argument. Please.” At this point, Kevin was almost begging his brother.

“Fine. Can I borrow your phone?”

“I… yeah. You want to do it now? I’ll pull up Mom’s number, you can decide when to press the button and call, but please don’t wait half an hour,”

“Yes.  I’m going to do it now, get it over with. Thank you,” Whizzer was still… angry? As he took the phone from his brother, looking down at the screen and rereading the contact name and number. He took a deep breath before pressing call and put the phone up to his ear.

“Hello? Kevin? Are you okay?” his mother’s voice answered him, and he smiled a little at her almost concerned, but not mad, voice. He knew it would change when she heard his voice.

“Mom?” it was a question, asked in an almost scared manner, as if he was wondering if he was allowed to call her that.

“Whizzer?” her voice was soft as she asked, almost in the same way.

A pause as he tried to figure out what to say.

“Yeah. Uh…  yeah. It’s… it’s me. Whizzer.”

“Are you… are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m good, Mom,” he laughed a little, trying to not cry because he was actually having a civil conversation with his mom for the first time in a while.

“Do you… are you with your brother?”

“Yeah. We’re in Orlando, he’s going to take me to Uganda with him, since I don’t… really… yeah.”

“What happened? Are you okay?”

“I… I got kicked out of my house. I was living with my... Uh…”

“Your boyfriend?”

“Yeah.”

“Was he good to you?”

“I guess. We had stupid arguments way too often, and I’m not surprised it fell apart, but… it still…”

“It hurts,”

“Yeah,”

“If you need to stay here at any time, you’re free to, okay? You’re still our son, no matter what happened… back then. We love you,”

Arnold pulled into the Wendy’s parking lot, looking back at Kevin as if to ask what they were going to do. When Arnold parked, Kevin unbuckled his seatbelt and got out, pulling Connor after him and gesturing for Nabulungi and Arnold to follow him. They did, leaving Whizzer alone in the car.

“I… I love you too. I’m sorry about what I said, I… I missed you. I miss you. I… I’m sorry,” Whizzer almost broke down right there, but he held it in, letting only a few tears slip out.

“Oh, Honey, it’s okay. We miss you too, we regret some of the things we said too.”

“I… I’m sorry.”

“We are too,”

“Do you… do you think it would be okay if I visited sometime? Not now, of course. But, uh… later. I want… after I’ve gotten my life straightened out. I’d like to see you and… Dad, if he wants to see me… again.”

“That’d be great! We’d love to see you again. Just tell us when, and we’ll make sure you have a bed ready here for you to sleep in,”

“Okay. Thanks,”

“What do you mean by straightening your life out?”

“I’m… not in a good place right now, I guess you could say. I want to… fix all this. I can’t undo what I did, but I’m… I’m trying to be better.”

“Are you still..?”

“Gay? Yeah,” Whizzer laughed a little as he spoke, nodding.

“Okay. That’s okay, that’s really good! We’re good with that. We just… wanted to make sure, before we… before we painted your old room.”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Your dad was going to try to paint a… pride flag, you call it, right?”

 

“Yeah, yeah, that’s what they call it. Gay pride flag?”

 

“Yeah. He wanted to paint one on the wall in your old room, we’ve been holding out hope that you’d call, Whizzer, we thought…”

 

“I know. Kevin told me. I’m… I’m really sorry. I… I’ve been taking care of myself, as well as I can,”

 

“Good. We love you. Your Dad’s out right now, but if you want, you can call later and talk to him. We have some of your old stuff still here, and… when you left… well, about three months after you left, we tried to contact you.”

 

“Oh… yeah. Uh. Sorry about that, I… I thought…”

 

“I know. It’s okay,”

 

“No, it’s not. I shouldn’t have done it,”

 

“You had right to,”

 

“Okay,”

 

“About three months after you left, when we tried to contact you but got nothing, we wondered what happened to you. We were so scared. We couldn’t find you anywhere. About a year after you left when we realized that maybe, we were wrong. Two years after you left, we knew we were wrong, but we couldn’t contact you. We have some gifts for you when you come back,”

 

“Are you… are you trying to convince me to come back with promises of presents?” Whizzer laughed through tears, not even realizing he had started to cry.

 

“And cake, we’ll make you a big rainbow cake,”

 

“You don’t need to, Mom, I’ll come whether or not you have cake and presents,”

 

“I know, but… we missed a couple birthdays and want to make it up to you,”

 

“Fine, but then we celebrate everyone else’s birthday too,”

 

“The gifts aren’t birthday presents, so much, more… we saw something and thought of you and thought you’d like it,”

 

“Can we still do a birthday party? Cake sounds good. A celebration sounds good. You can meet… you can meet Kevin’s crush. I think you’ll like him, he’s really… he’s nice.”

 

“That’s really good! We’d love to meet him. I… yeah. We’re really sorry about how we reacted… it…”

 

“It’s okay. We’ve all learned, right? I just… what made you change your mind?”

 

“Do you… you still remember what happened, right?”

 

“I… I can’t forget.”

 

___________________________________

 

He took a deep breath. “Mom, Dad, I’m gay,” he looked at himself in the mirror, shaking his head.

 

“J-”

 

“Whizzer!” He called back to his younger brother, who was about thirteen at the time. Whizzer had been sixteen, his birthday a day away.

 

And he was nervous.

 

Whizzer was gay. He knew that for a fact. His boyfriend knew that. His  _ brother  _ knew it.

 

But his parents didn’t.

 

He was scared about how they would react- both very religious, and both unlikely to be supportive of him.

 

“Mom, Dad, you… no. Uh… Kevin!” Whizzer called for his brother, smiling a little when he saw him in the doorway.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Can you… would you be willing to help me?” 

 

“Yeah! Are you coming out to Mom and Dad?”

 

“Tomorrow. Hopefully… I don’t know. I’m going to pack a bag just to be safe, and I’m probably going to end up staying with Peter for a little bit, but I’ll still try to call you, okay?”

 

“Okay. Go ahead, I’ll tell you what I think,”

 

“Okay. Mom, Dad, if there’s one thing I’ve gotten straight within the past seventeen years of my life, it’s that I am not.” He turned to look at his brother, giving a questioning look.

 

“I think that’s okay. Good luck, I’ll see you at dinner,” Kevin went back to his own room, clearly not happy about the coming task but going anyways.

 

The following day, Whizzer had gotten up, excited because it was a Saturday and his birthday. He could remember practically flying down the stairs, ready for pancakes, then whatever surprise his mom had planned, then cake and presents and coming out to his family.

 

Not too hard, right?

 

They got through the first part of the list, the surprise being going on a hike with a new camera to get some good nature pictures, and they had sat down for cake when Whizzer opened his mouth.

 

“Hey, so… there’s something I need to tell you all,” He looked around at his family- his brother and his parents. He smiled softly.

 

“Go ahead, what is it?” His mom encouraged him to continue, nodding with a smile.

 

“I… I’m gay?” it came out as a question. He could see everything crumble, see everything fall apart around him. Everyone went silent, no one breathing. Kevin’s eyes darted from his parents to his older brother, crossing his fingers under the table that maybe, they won’t kick him out.

 

“Get out.” It was his father who said it.

 

“Dad, I-”

 

“Get out of my house. I don’t want… we never raised you to be this way. We raised you to be straight. Either be straight or get out.”

 

“Dad, there’s nothing wrong with being gay!” Whizzer found himself defending himself, glaring at his Dad as his eyes started to burn.

 

“We don’t want you around if you’re going to be this way. You have half an hour, and then we don’t want to see you.”

 

“You’re all bitches, you know that? YOU’RE ALL PIECES OF SHIT THAT ARE SO FUCKING NARROW-MINDED-”

 

“WHIZZER! LOWER YOUR TONE RIGHT NOW. GET OUT THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE OR BE STRAIGHT. YOU’RE A FAILURE, WE NEVER RAISED YOU TO BE THIS WAY!” His father only shouted right back.

 

“I- I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU GUYS AGAIN IF YOU’RE GOING TO BE THIS NARROW MINDED. YOU’D FUCKING KICK YOUR OWN TEENAGE SON OUT BECAUSE HE’S GAY?”

 

“GET OUT!”   
  


“Oh, I FUCKING WILL. GLADLY. I DON’T PLAN ON COMING BACK!”   
  


“WE DON’T WANT YOU TO!”

 

“GOOD!” Whizzer stood, kicking his chair out from behind him as he stormed up the stairs, slamming his bedroom door as he got his bag then slamming it again when he walked out, going to the front door, flipping his Dad off before shouting something else, his Dad shouting right back, and slamming the front door shut behind him as he ran. Of course, there had been more shouted between the two before he left, but this was all he wanted to remember, to think about.

 

Did he want to go back into that house and have some cake and get the presents and get a hug from his parents and be able to see Kevin the next morning? Definitely.

 

But he just threw it all away.

 

_____________________________________________

 

“That was the worst day of my life. I think. I mean, the days after that were pretty bad. Everything was pretty bad until I met Marvin. He helped me a little after we met, and then, we started… we started dating about nine months ago. I met him when I was twenty one I think? I mean… yeah, I was able to eventually get myself together and find an apartment, but it wasn’t… good.” Whizzer found himself taking a shaky breath.

 

“I’m so sorry, Honey. We both are.”

 

“What… what caused you to change your minds?”

 

“When he was fifteen or sixteen, I can’t remember now, Kevin came out as bisexual to us, begging us not to send him away like we did you. After you left, we were… we were worried. We started to wonder if you were even alive. We haven’t… We haven’t spoken to you in six years. It was when we hear nothing, couldn’t find you anywhere, after two and a half years, that we started really worrying that maybe you weren’t…”

 

“It’ll take more than a bad day to kill Whizzer Brown, I can promise you that,” Whizzer found himself laughing a little.

 

“Yes. That’s true. You… we’re so proud of you. We love you. If you want, tomorrow, or the next chance you get, we can try to Skype or something,”

 

“Yeah. That’d be really nice. Except I think we should probably do FaceTime, or maybe something else, my experiences with Skype have always had bad connection. I’d love to be able to talk to you and Dad, as close to face-to-face as we can get, though. I can show you some of the… I think you’ll like some of the pictures I’ve taken, I’ll try to get your number in my phone and I’ll text you soon, if that’s okay,”

 

“That’d be great. I’m going to let you go, since it’s getting late, and you probably want to spend some time with your brother,”

 

“Okay. I’ll text you in a couple minutes,”

 

“Okay. We’ll talk to you again tomorrow. We both love and miss you, and we can’t wait to see you again,”

 

“I love you too, Mom. I’ll see you soon, I promise,”

 

“Okay. Bye, Whizzer, love you,”

 

“Love you too,”

 

The click signaling the end of the call. The first thing Whizzer did was get his Mom’s phone number from Kevin’s phone, texting her on his own. Then he checked to see how he looked, cleaning himself up before getting out of the car and going into the Wendy’s.

 

“How did it go?” Kevin seemed hopeful.

 

“We’re going to try to call again tomorrow… she… they… I’m sorry,” Whizzer whispered the last thing to his brother when he was seated next to him, his brother nodding.

 

“We are too. But this is good now, we’re… yeah. We’re still a family,”

 

“And we’re better than Marvin’s!” Whizzer gave a little laugh as he spoke.

 

“Definitely. We’re better than the dick who kicked you out,”

 

“I’m going to go get-”

 

“We already ordered for you, they should be bringing it out in a second,” Arnold cut him off, happy now that everyone seemed happy, relaxed.

 

“Oh. Thanks,” Whizzer nodded at him. “You’re a good kid. We’re keeping you,”

 

“I didn’t-”

 

“I’m adopting all of you. You’re all my children now.”

 

“Wait, does that make them brothers then?” Arnold looked to Nabulungi for confirmation, and received a nod in answer.

 

“...I’m not adopting Kevin, then,” Whizzer nodded. Kevin just shook his head, looking over at the counter when they called his name.

 

“That’s going to be yours. I can go get it, if you want,”

 

“I don’t really care. Either one is fine, I’m not too hungry right now,”

 

“Wow. Do you mind if we talk about it later?”

 

“What, the call?”

 

“Yeah,”

 

“There’s not a lot to talk about. Dad wasn’t there and there wasn’t a screaming match. Oh, and we’re going to try to make plans to see them again,”

 

“That’d be good. It’s been six years,”

 

“Yeah. On one hand, it’s already been six years, but on the other, it’s only been six-”

 

“Six years?” the surprise was enough to make Kevin and Whizzer both look at Arnold. “When was the last time you two actually talked to each other, the last time you two were in the same room?”

 

“Uh… six years, does that sound about right? We didn’t really… we’ll explain what happened later. Right now isn’t the best time,”

 

“Wait. So you left for six years, leaving no trace of where you were, and then you just decide to randomly call your brother and ask him to pick you up?” Connor asked, trying to make sure he was understanding it right.

 

“Not… not exactly. I tried to keep in contact with Kevin. I mean, as time wore on, it became only a quick hi every now and then, checking up on each other, and a happy birthday on birthdays, but not too much outside of that. I guess Kevin never told Mom and Dad…”

 

“You stopped talking to me almost completely a year or two after you left. I had no idea if you were alive or not, and Mom and Dad probably wouldn’t have liked me talking to you for that first year, year and a half.”

 

“I… yeah. That makes sense. I’m really sorry, I am.”

 

“Is anyone going to get his food?” Nabulungi spoke up, trying to get the men back on track.

 

“Right. Thanks. I’ll go get it,” Whizzer stood, going to the counter and getting his food before sitting back down, giving Kevin a half-smile before starting to eat.

 

“Tomorrow’s going to be nice,” Connor said eventually, leaning into Kevin just a little he spoke, receiving a look from Nabulungi, Arnold, and Whizzer. 

 

Whizzer coughed “Gay,”, Arnold nodding but saying nothing else. Kevin raised his eyebrows at the brother, stealing one of his french fries.

 

“What? It’s true. We’re going to get a little break. As fun as all the parks have been, I’m a little tired,”

 

“We all are. I think I agree with Connor, it’s going to be nice to get a break. As much as I love Orla-”

 

“You’d marry Orlando if it were legal. I’m surprised you haven’t tried to propose to it yet, but maybe you’re waiting to propose to someone else?” 

 

“Whizzer!” Kevin smacked the  back of his brother’s head, glaring at him.

 

“What? I’m just saying.”

 

“Whatever. As I was saying, although I love Orlando, it’s been a tiring past couple of days, and some rest will be nice. We leave in… when do we leave? A week, about?”

 

“Yeah. It’ll be nice to get back to Uganda, but I’m going to miss it here,” Connor nodded, mentally adding a  _ where you seem so happy and you’re so adorable as you look at everything  _ to his words. 

 

Whizzer looked over at him, shooting Connor a little smile, which made Connor wonder if Whizzer knew what he had thought.

 

That was impossible, though. No one was telepathic.

 

Right?

 

Whizzer’s phone buzzing in his pocket caused his attention to be taken from his food to his phone, Whizzer pulling it out of his pocket and looking at it with almost worry before he excused himself to go outside.

 

“What do you want?” He didn’t bother masking his anger… was it anger? At receiving the call.

 

“You left some stuff here. I wasn’t sure if you wanted it or if you wanted me to throw it out.”

 

“I don’t care. I’m not fucking going back to your house. I don’t need you. Goodbye, Mar-”

 

“Wait!”

 

Whizzer shook his head, his eyes hardening as he looked up. 

 

“What is it?”

 

“I… I don’t know. I heard you were talking to Jason.”

 

“So what if I am? If he texts me, that’s his decision. He’s allowed to talk to people.”

 

“Yeah. You’re right.”

 

“Finally. I’m right about something.”

 

“Whatever. I’m just going to throw out whatever you left, since you’re not coming back. If you want me to, I’m willing to consider keeping some of it safe and sending it to you or giving it to Trina so you can pick it up.”

 

“I’m not in New York. I have no way to pick any of it up. Just throw it all away. I don’t need it, I wouldn’t even be able to take it with me on a plane.”

 

“Fine.”

 

“Bye, Marvin.”

 

“Sure. Whatever. Bye, Whizzer.”

 

Whizzer found himself almost regretting the way the conversation went, but at the same time, Marvin had hurt him. He deserved to be upset with the other man. Whizzer walked back into the restaurant after making sure the call was over, Kevin giving him a questioning look.

 

“Marvin called, apparently I left some stuff there. Honestly, I’m not surprised. It was a quick leave.”

 

“Do I-”

 

“No. It’s fine. He’s not going to call again, I could tell by the way he spoke that he really didn’t want to make the call in the first place. Trina or Mendel probably made him call me.”

 

“Okay. As long as you’re sure you’re okay.”

 

Whizzer only nodded, looking down at his phone one more time before looking up.

 

“Are you excited to go back to Uganda?”

 

“Definitely. You’re coming with us, right?”

 

“Yeah, I think I might. I might as well, it’ll be fun,”

 

“We should… warn you. We’re not really… mormons? Anymore.”

 

“...Kevin Price, the super-amazing, one hundred percent Mormon, isn’t mormon anymore? What happened?”

 

Arnold raised his hand a little. “Hi,”

 

“...Arnold?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“I… what did you do?”

 

“I accidentally made a new religion?” Arnold’s statement came out as more of a question.

 

“How?” Whizzer was close to laughing, and was struggling to keep himself from doing so.

 

“Interesting tale, that is,” Kevin began to look almost uncomfortable. “One for another time. We’ll tell you all about what happened in Uganda, but… later!”

 

“Yeah. He had twelve cups of coffee in one setting.”

 

“...please tell me Arnold is joking,” Connor looked over at Kevin. “This is the first I’ve heard of this.”

 

“Oh, no, he’s not. It wasn’t my best moment, I’ll admit. But it was the first time I had a cup of what is possibly the greatest drink ever.”

 

“Someone help us all.” Connor looked up at the ceiling. “Please.”

 

Once they were all done eating, and they all convinced Kevin to let them get frosties (“Kevin, she’s never had a frosty before!” from Arnold, excited nods from Nabulungi, puppy dog eyes that Kevin couldn’t say no to from Connor, and Whizzer threatening to switch out all of his coffee with decaf finally convinced him), they piled back into the car, Whizzer taking the time to strike up a conversation with Nabulungi.

 

“So, how did you say you met Kevin and Arnold?”

 

“They went to Uganda on their mission, which you already know. I ended up being the one to take them to the mission hut, where you’ll be staying with them if or when you go to Uganda with us. The next day they started trying to convert us all to their religion, and… Kevin watched someone get shot in the face, I think? But somehow Kevin ended up trying to find a way to get a transfer, which he never got. I agreed to learn more about the Book of Mormon, and Arnold baptized me! It turned out that what he told us wasn’t all really in the Book of Mormon and we somehow ended up with a new religion. It’s… kinda weird,”

 

“Sounds like it. At least it was fun,”

 

“I guess you could say that. Looking back on it now, we can laugh, but when it was happening… yeah. Oh, I should warn you! Our doctor-”

 

“No, you need to let him find out for himself!” Kevin cut her off, an almost mischievous smile on his face, the kind of smile that made Whizzer almost scared because his brother seemed to be getting joy out of something that might end up confusing Whizzer or making him want to hit his brother so hard he sees next week.

 

“Give the man a little warning, at least!” Arnold shook his head. “You don’t want him-”

 

“No, no. I want to see his reaction when the doctor tells him!”

 

“What is it?” Whizzer looked to Connor, since he figured that would be the only person that would tell him.

 

“You’ll see. The only warning I’m giving you is to be prepared for weird stuff.”

 

“I… okay,” Whizzer decided it would probably be best to wait until later to get the answer out of the group.

 

“We have an ex-warlord, who calls himself, and I quote, ‘General Butt-Fucking Naked’,” Kevin made finger quotes as he spoke.

 

“I’m almost curious,” 

 

“You don’t want to know. You really do not want to know.” Connor and Nabulungi both shook their heads, not willing to tell him about the general.

 

“I’d prefer to not talk about him too much either.” Kevin seemed to agree with them, leaving Arnold to be the only one Whizzer could possibly get an answer out of.

 

“I’m not saying anything, you can learn all about our… odd group when you meet them. I think you’ll like them.”

 

“You’ll probably like Poptarts,”

 

“I.. who?”

 

“Poptarts. He… really, really likes Poptarts.”

 

“More than Kevin likes coffee.” Connor elbowed Kevin in the side as he spoke, the other man shaking his head.

 

“Impossible.”

 

“I don’t know, his nickname is Poptarts,” Arnold shook his head. “I think he wins this round, sorry,” 

 

“Fine. I’ll challenge him to a duel when we see him again, then.”

 

“...which kind?” Connor and Whizzer shared a look.

 

“Oh my God. What musical?”

 

“Plural, brother dearest. Plural. You get a choice. What song do you want us to perform for you?”

 

“None. None of you are broadway actors, and none of you can sing. Not well, at least, Please don’t.”

 

At Kevin’s answer, Whizzer gasped, feigning offense. 

 

“How  _ dare  _ you? I should inform you that I am a  _ fine  _ singer, and Connor here is as well.”

 

“I… you know what? I’m done with you.”

 

“Fine.” 

 

The two brothers glared at each other before turning to look out opposite windows before bursting into laughter. 

 

“Is this… normal?” Nabulungi seemed almost worried, Arnold shrugging and the look on Connor’s face almost as concerned.

 

“We’re good,”

 

“Oh… kay,”

 

“We’re almost at the hotel, quick, act normal when we walk in!” Arnold’s words only sent the brothers into another fit of laughter.

 

“Normal? When did you get ‘normal’ from us?” Connor asked eventually as Arnold parked the car.

 

“I didn’t, actually,”


	10. Cheese Whiz

They got into the hotel somewhat normally, all of them trying to avoid anyone else as they walked through the lobby to the elevator because they were all in tears they were laughing so hard about the randomest things.

 

When they finally got to their rooms, Kevin hugged Arnold and Nabulungi both, wishing them a good night’s rest, before unlocking the door to the room he shared with his brother and Connor, Whizzer falling face-first onto his own bed while Connor sat on the one he was sharing with Kevin before laying back and closing his eyes for a minute.

 

“Okay. C’mon. Get ready for bed, both of you,” Kevin found himself trying to push his friend and brother to change into something more comfortable, which worked about as well as you can imagine.

 

Whizzer ended up falling out of the bed, causing some hushed laughter because “Whizzer the people below us might be trying to sleep” “Kevin you’re the one that pushed him off the bed” and “seriously are you sure they’re asleep they’re not being very quiet down there”, the last comment earning Whizzer a pillow being thrown at him.

 

“Did  _ not  _ need to know that,” Connor found himself standing and getting something more comfortable to change into, laughing as Whizzer stood and tackled Kevin onto the bed, the two brothers starting a pillow fight that would probably end in one, or both of them, yelling at each other. “Stop fighting,” Connor almost felt obligated to stop the two brothers from fighting before rolling his eyes and going to the bathroom to change. When he came out, he found the two brothers on opposite beds, already changed and Whizzer wrapping himself in the blanket while Kevin adjusted his shirt, looking up at Connor when he came out of the bathroom.

 

Connor put his clothes in the dirty clothes bag, internally groaning as he knew they would be cleaning the clothes the next day. He wasn’t looking forward to the fight for a washer. Kevin stood and hugged him, dragging him to the bed when he had put the clothes in the bag, and Connor found that he didn’t mind being wrapped up with a blanket with Kevin cuddled up to him too much. 

 

“I’m going to end up with a terrible sunburn,” Connor found himself saying, Kevin smiling sleepily.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Yeah,”

 

“Don’t worry, we’ll get you that… that… what is it called?” Kevin’s eyes were barely open as Connor turned to look at him, shifting to see Kevin’s face. 

 

“The what?”

 

“The… thing. You know, the… the thing. It’s cold. Not the… the solid water. I don’t know if that’d help… but the.. The whatever it’s called. You know?”

 

“Aloe?”

 

“No, I don’t… that might’ve been it. I don’t remember. Talk to me again tomorrow and I’ll be able to tell you,”

 

Connor laughed a little. “Okay. Go to sleep, you’re tired.”

 

“Am not,” Kevin yawned as he spoke.

 

“Yes, you are. You’re worse than a child. Just go to sleep,”

 

“Don’t wanna,”

 

“Kevin, please,”

 

“Fine,” Kevin didn’t seem too happy with Connor’s request, but closed his eyes anyways. “You’re warm,”

 

“I’m a human, I’m fairly sure I’m supposed to be warm,”

 

“Yeah, but it’s nice. You’re… you’re pretty, you know that?”

 

“Kevin, go to sleep. You’re tired.”

 

“No I’m not. I wanna go riding on the beach with you and hold your hand and cuddle you and-“

 

“Kevin, please. Go to sleep. I’m not going to deal with you like this if you keep it up.”

 

“Aww, why not? I’m not tired, I just… I wanna hug you, a whole whole lots,”

 

“I’m not sure that’s grammatically correct. You’re tired. You need sleep. Awake, alert Kevin wouldn’t have said that.”

 

“Yes! I wanna-”

 

“You’re already hugging me. Go. to. Sleep.”

 

“...okay,”

 

“Goodnight, Kevin.”

 

Kevin fell asleep fairly quickly, so Connor decided he would ask Whizzer a question. He tried to carefully get out of Kevin’s embrace, trying not to wake the other man, before going to sit on Whizzer’s bed.

 

“What did you give him?” Connor found himself whispering the question, Whizzer laughing when he heard it.

 

“I didn’t give him anything,”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“What, did he just declare his undying love for you or something, and you don’t like it?”

 

“That’s not… no! He... He forgot the word for aloe.”

 

“I didn’t give him anything. He was probably just tired, I’m sure he’ll be fine in the morning,”

 

“He didn’t… want to go to sleep?”

 

“Why are you asking it like a question if it’s a statement?”

 

“I was hoping you’d know why your  _ brother  _ didn’t want to go to sleep,”

 

“I haven’t seen him in almost six years. I have no idea about his sleep cycles, Connor. I’m sorry,”

 

“I know. I wasn’t sure if there was something you might remember from when you saw him, or…”

 

“People change. I know him, yeah, and he knows me, yeah, but we’ve changed. A lot.”

 

“What did you do? When you got kicked out,”

 

“I stayed with a friend,”

 

“How did you end up in New York?”

 

“I… decided to leave the state. I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go, but I knew I wanted somewhere that’d… I’m not sure, actually. I don’t remember. I ended up there,”

 

“Huh. That’s interesting. Did you at least see any broadway shows?”

 

“Marvin took me on a date and we went to see a show once or twice, yeah. It was… fun,”

 

“That’s good. I’ll see you tomorrow, and I’ll definitely get started on the vest when we get to Uganda, since all my stuff to make it is there,”

 

“Okay. Goodnight, Mickey,”

 

“Goodnight, uh… Cheese Whiz,”

 

“Cheese Whiz?”

 

“Yeah, because… your name is, uh, Whizzer. Whiz is the first part of it… okay, yeah. Never mind. Forget I said anything.”

 

“No, no, it’s fine, I just… didn’t expect a nickname, I guess,”

 

“Okay. Sleep well,”

 

“Wait. I know I said-”

 

“I’m sorry, but I  _ really don’t  _ want to hear about how you want Kevin and I to get together. I’m tired, you’re tired. Let’s just go to sleep,”

 

“I know, but… I just wanted to tell you that… I’m not sure if you remember it, or if you were even really awake for it, but I can promise you that he feels the same, and I make no promises that if you two don’t hurry up-”

 

“Good _ night,  _ Whiz- Cheese Whiz,”

 

“Goodnight, Mickey,”

 

Connor slipped back into the bed he was sharing with Kevin, who had curled up around a pillow. Connor smiled a little, gently trying to move the pillow before giving up and laying on his own side of the bed, not willing to wake Kevin up.

 

After about half an hour of trying and failing to get to sleep, Connor decided to get back up again, making himself something to drink before checking his phone, smiling and laughing a little when he saw texts from Elder Poptarts, asking if he was okay before going to random thoughts the man was having at the time, the most recent texts being him realizing that they’re in a different time zone and Connor should be trying to sleep, not text him. Of course, Connor did anyways, letting his friend know he was okay but that he couldn’t sleep. He was almost surprised to see the time was only eleven, but at the same time he was surprised it was already eleven. Kevin sitting up drew his attention to the bed, the ex-elder looking up as the taller man sat up.

 

“Hey, Connor? What time is it?”

 

“It’s almost eleven thirty,”

 

“Shouldn’t you be asleep?”

 

“Couldn’t sleep,”

 

“Oh. Hell dream?”

 

“No, I just couldn’t get to sleep for some reason. I talked with Chee- Whizzer for a little bit before he went to sleep, and I just… couldn’t sleep. It’s no big deal, I’m fine, I just thought I’d check on everyone in Uganda before finishing my drink and going back to bed,”

 

Kevin frowned, nodding a little but not seeming completely convinced.

 

“I promise,”

 

“If you say so. Do you want anyone to stay up with you?”

 

“You can if you want,”

 

“Okay,” Kevin found himself throwing his legs over the side of the bed and almost falling off of it, Connor laughing quietly as he watched. 

 

“May I help you?” Kevin glared at Connor from his spot trying to hold himself off the floor. He let himself roll over, trying not to be too loud as he moved.

 

“Be careful, don’t be too loud. Did you finally figure out what it’s called?”

 

“What what’s called?” Kevin furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to figure out what Connor was talking about.

 

“The… what was it you called it… the ‘cold stuff’? The not-ice?”

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“I’m probably going to end up with a sunburn,”

 

“It’ll be okay, we can get some aloe for it tomorrow,”

 

“Oh, good,”

 

“Yeah, it’s not a big deal,”

 

“Thanks,”

 

Kevin only nodded as he walked towards the fridge, getting his own drink before sitting by Connor. 

 

“You need sleep,” Kevin said eventually. 

 

“I’m going to, I promise. You’re going to make me even if I say I won't,” 

 

“You’re right, I will. Because sleep is important. If you want we can turn on a movie or something and see if that helps,”

 

“It’s not a hell dream, I already told you that. I’m only up because I just can’t sleep.”

 

“If you say so,”

 

“However, I wouldn’t be opposed to watching a Disney movie or something, if you want to pick one out,”

 

Kevin nodded, clearly liking the idea of watching a Disney movie, even if it was at a time he judged to be too late. Connor smiled a little, finishing his drink before making his way back to the bed and getting under one of the blankets, Kevin joining him a couple minutes after. 

 

They ended up watching Lady and the Tramp (“it’s a classic!” “If you say so, Kevin,”), Connor falling asleep about halfway through and Kevin following not too long after. 

 

It was Whizzer who woke them up the next morning, after getting some pictures of them cuddled up in the bed together because he figured they would be nice to have later. Of course, he didn’t plan on telling Kevin he had the pictures until later, already knowing his brother would probably be unhappy with the someone having pictures.

 

Did Whizzer really care?

 

Not too much. He hoped it would be able to be used later.

 

After he got the picture, he started making some coffee, knowing he wanted some and that Kevin would probably ask for some when he was awake, but unsure if Connor would want one.

 

“Mickey!” He stood by the coffee maker as he spoke, not moving to be closer by the bed. He checked the time- only nine in the morning. Not too bad, assuming they had both gotten to sleep before one a.m. 

 

He ended up standing over the bed, a pillow held above his head as he considered hitting his brother in the face with it to wake him up.

 

When he did, he ended up laughing because his brother didn’t wake up at first, and when he finally did, Whizzer was fixed with the death glare, which wasn’t that menacing when Kevin was still waking up and unable to really glare. 

 

It was Kevin who woke Connor up, shaking the other man, making sure he was awake before getting out of bed and going to change into something to wear for the day.

 

“We’ve got a week left here, right?”

 

“Yeah, that sounds right. You’ll get to meet Poptarts soon! I think you’re going to like it, it’s actually okay,” Connor got out of the bed as well, making it look neater before turning around.

 

Whizzer nodded, checking his phone when he saw the screen light up. The text from Jason almost concerned him, since there wasn’t any prompting and it was a single word that was sent.

 

_ Whizzer? _

 

_ Yeah? Are you okay? _

 

_ Can I call you? _

 

_ Jason, what happened? Are you okay? _

 

_ Is it okay to call you? _

 

Whizzer looked up at Connor, concerned by the exchange.

 

“What happened?”

 

“I don’t know, Mickey. I might step outside for a minute, depending on what’s going on, if you can tell Kevin so he knows I didn’t run away or something,”

 

“Good luck. Hopefully it’s nothing, but I’ll tell Kevin if you do have to step out,”

 

“Thanks,” with that, Whizzer pressed call, and put the phone up to his ear.

 

“Whizzer?” 

 

“Jason? Are you okay? What happened?”

 

“I’m… I’m okay. I’ve been playing chess.”

 

“That’s good. Is there-”

 

“Is it okay to hit someone?”

 

Jason’s question made Whizzer worried.

 

“It depends. Was it self-defense? Who did-”

 

“I didn’t hit anyone. It wasn’t self defense, it was… anger,”

 

“Who hit who?”

 

“Dad hit Mom.”

 

Whizzer looked  to Connor, mouthing that he was going outside before doing so.

 

“Is your dad there with you?”

 

“Not right now, but Mom and Mendel are in the house,”

 

“Okay. Can I speak with your mom?”

 

“I’ll see if she can,”

 

“Okay. Thank you, Jason,”

 

A couple minutes later, Trina was on the phone with Whizzer.

 

“Yes?” she didn’t seem the happiest at talking with him.

 

“Listen. I’ve been a complete dick, yeah. And you have every reason to hate me. You have absolutely no reason to forgive me for what I did, I ruined your life.”

 

“I… what?”

 

“Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way: What did Marvin do? Are you okay?”

 

“I sent him an invitation. Mendel and I hope to get married, and for some reason Marvin didn’t seem to happy with it,”

 

“Okay. You should be free to do what you want, you two are divorced. What did he do?”

 

“He came to our house and tore up his invitation, and he… he hit me,”

 

“I’m going to kick his ass if I see him again.”

 

“While I wouldn’t be completely opposed to this, you shouldn’t. What do you mean by ‘if’?”

 

“You already know that we broke up and he kicked me out. I am currently in Orlando, Florida, with my younger brother, his best friend, his best friend’s girlfriend, and his… whatever they are. I’m not sure anymore. I leave in a week with them to go to Uganda.”

 

“You didn’t even want to be in the same state as Marvin?” for some reason Trina seemed to find this almost funny.

 

“No, it’s not that, it’s more of a matter of Kevin being willing to give me a place to stay,”

 

“That makes sense, i guess,”

 

“Is Marvin there?”

 

“No, I think he’s coming over later though. Mendel wanted to talk to him.”

“Can you call me or something when he gets there? I need to… talk with him.”

 

“I will, if that’s what you want. I didn’t mean for you to get involved, this isn’t… you don’t have to worry about it,”

 

“I had to worry about it when Jason texted me. I’m going to hopefully talk some sense into Marvin, and if not, I wish you the best of luck,”

 

“Thanks,”

 

“Yep,”

 

“I’m going to give you back to Jason,”

 

“Okay,”

 

A pause, and then Jason was back on the phone.

 

“Jason? Are you okay?”

 

“I’m okay, I think. Nothing happened to me,”

 

“Good. I’m always here to talk if you need it, okay?”

 

“Okay. Thanks,”

‘

“You’re welcome,”

 

“How’s your brother?”

 

“He’s okay. If you want, I can let you talk to Mickey, I don’t know if Kevin’s done changing yet or if he got into the shower,”

 

“Okay,”

 

“It might be a second,” Whizzer went back into the room, walking towards Connor. “Want to meet Jason?” he asked the other man, who nodded.

 

“Sure,”

 

“Okay. Jason, this is your Uncle Mickey,” Whizzer passed his phone to Connor after saying this, Connor taking the phone before realizing what Whizzer had said.

 

“Hi, Jason. My name isn’t Mickey, it’s a nickname. My real name is Connor, but you’re free to call me either. And I’m not really your uncle, but you already know that. If you want, you can call me… your… uncle? I guess. Even though we’re not related,”

 

“Okay. Uh… how’re you, I guess?”

 

“I’m okay, I’ve been in Orlando with Kevin and Whizzer. What about you?”

 

“I’ve been okay. I’ve been playing chess,”

 

“Ooh, fun! One day, if we ever meet in person, I’ll have to play with you,”

 

“That’d be nice! After a while, playing my dad gets old, and my mom can’t play, Mendel plays sometimes, but not too often… and Whizzer’s not here anymore. He used to play with me. He wasn’t the best player, but it was still fun,”

 

“Do you play against a friend, or…?”

 

“No, I don’t. I play against myself,”

 

“How… okay. I’d be willing to play you if we were to ever meet, if you wanted, like I said,”

 

“Hopefully we can, I heard you were going back to Uganda in a week?”

 

“Yeah, Arnold, Nabulungi, and I are dragging Kevin out to go back, and Kevin’s dragging Whizzer with us. We’ll bring him back, I promise, but right now it’s easiest for us to take him with us,”

 

“Okay. Have fun, hopefully everything’s good there,”

 

“When I checked, they were all doing good in Uganda,”

 

“That’s good,”

 

“Yep,” 

 

“Kevin’s done with his shower, if you want to say hi to him,”

 

“Sure,”

 

Connor passed the phone to Kevin, who smiled faintly before saying hello.

 

“Yeah, I’m Kevin. Whizzer’s brother, yeah.”

 

“Hi, I’m Jason,”

 

“I’ve heard a fair amount about you. You’re really good at chess, right?”

 

“I guess. I usually play myself,”

 

“Wow. If we ever meet, Connor would probably play against you, I’d be willing to play against you too, but I’m not any good. Arnold might know how to play,”

 

“He seems like the kind of person that would know how,” Whizzer nodded at Connor’s words, agreeing. He wouldn’t be too surprised if Arnold knew how to play.

 

“That’d be fun. How’s Orlando been?”

 

“It’s been fun!” 

 

With that, Whizzer took the phone out of his brother’s hands.

 

“Hey, I’m back. I don’t think you want a full presentation about how great Orlando is, I don’t know if he still has that powerpoint… he might. But I doubt you want the speech,”

 

“Oh, yeah. Thanks,”

 

“It’s no problem. I think we might have to go, I’ll talk to you again later, yeah?”

 

“Okay, that’ll be good. I’ll text you when Dad’s over. Bye Whizzer,”

 

“Bye, Jason.”

 

With that, the call ended.

 

“So, how did everyone sleep?” it was Kevin that asked.

 

“I slept well, what about you two?”

 

“Pretty good,” Connor nodded. “It was late, but pretty good,”

 

“That’s good,” even Whizzer seemed to notice the importance of Connor actually getting a good night’s sleep.

 

It gave him a couple questions that he would like to test out but knew he shouldn’t, since the newly dubbed “Mickey” could end up with a hell dream, and that wasn’t something that was needed.


	11. If They Keep Up, Arnold and Whizzer are Probably Going to Set Them Up and Force Them to go Out on a Date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I just wanted to let you know that I'm changing update days to Fridays, just because that's easier to keep track of. I really appreciate all the reads this has gotten, thank you all so much!

The call from Jason and Marvin didn’t happen until the next day, when they were all getting ready to go to the Disney park, Arnold having had invaded their room because “help I have too many clothes now what do I do”.

 

Really, no one had a problem with it, and the four men had ended up sitting on the beds and talking about random stuff more than the clothes that had been washed the day before. When Whizzer’s phone buzzed, he excused himself from the room, answering the call from Jason.

 

“Dad’s here now, sorry we didn’t call yesterday,”

 

“It’s fine, Jason. May I talk with him?” Whizzer started making his way out of the hotel, unsure of how the conversation would go.

 

“Yeah, I’ll have him on the phone in a second,”

 

“Thanks,”

 

A couple minutes later, a familiar voice was speaking.

 

“Whizzer.”

 

“Marvin.”

 

A pause. 

 

“Why did you do it?” Whizzer found it difficult to keep his tone calm.

 

“Do what?”

 

“You know what. Why did you do it? Why were you so… why did you have to do it?”

 

“Whizzer, you’re going to need to be more specific. I’ve done quite a lot in my life.”

 

“Why did you do it? Why did you get her pregnant, marry her, then fucking leave her? Huh? Why? Did you think about how it would affect them?”

 

“Whizzer. You’re the one I left her for.”

 

“I know that, dammit! And was it a good decision?”

 

“It seemed like one at the time. You seemed to agree before.”

 

“Then you get worked up over the stupidest shit! You… you…”

 

“Who’s talking? Can you really say you’re any better?”

 

“And then you kicked me out. I’m fine with that, actually. You know that? I’m better off now. But you had to go and fucking hit her. You don’t… You  _ don’t  _ do that.”

 

“I was unaware you were her best friend.”

 

“I’m not. At the same time, I’m not a terrible person.”

 

“You sure about that?”

 

“I’m not a great person, and I’m not a good person, by no means. But I can still feel regret.”

 

“Calm down.”

 

“No. No. You can’t tell me what to do, you know that? I appreciate the fact that you were willing to leave her for me. That, I won’t lie about. It was fun when it happened. It was your decision, you were the one who did it. That’s fine. But you have no right to get worked up about her moving on!”

 

“I-”

 

“No. You’re not always right. Other people have thoughts, too. The world doesn’t revolve around you!”

 

“I never said it did.”

 

“You imply it. You hold yourself like it does.”

 

“I-”

 

“No. No. Sometimes, other people are wrong, and need to change, yes. But so do you. Become better yourself before you make everyone else change themselves!”

 

“I didn’t even want to talk on this phone. Don’t yell at me.”

 

“Marvin, I’m done with this. I’m sick of it. I was sick of it.”

 

“It’s a good thing you don’t have to be around it anymore, then, right?”

 

“Please. Just… stop. Think before you do things. Try to become better and move on.”

 

“Why are you suddenly concerned with that?”

 

“Because you deserve another chance. I’m not giving you one, not right now, at least. Call me in, what, six years, and maybe I’ll think about it, but honestly, I don’t think you want that anymore.”

 

“Fine. I don’t really care, but whatever helps you sleep at night.”

 

“It’s not to help me sleep at night! If you don’t want to, i’m not going to make you. It was a suggestion.”

 

“Whatever.”

 

“Hey, Whizzer,” Mendel’s voice came from somewhere on the other end, not too far from Marvin.

 

“Mendel, hi.”

 

“How’re you doing? Jason says that you’re in Orlando,”

 

“Yeah, my brother dragged me down here. I’m going to Uganda in six days,”

 

“Ooh, have fun! Good luck,”

 

“Thanks, and to you too… with whatever you end up doing,”

 

“Thanks. Hey, can I ask you something?”

 

“Go for it,”

 

“How do you feel about this whole situation?”

 

“I don’t know.”

 

“Marvin?”

 

“What?” Marvin seemed mildly annoyed.

 

“How do you feel about Marvin?”

 

“If you’re asking if I still love him, I’ve already told Jason. No. I don’t.”

 

“I… I’m so dumb.”

 

With that, the line went dead. It took Whizzer a minute to realize that  _ he  _ had been the one to hang up. He put the phone back in his pocket, taking a deep breath and running a hand through his hair before going back into the hotel. He didn’t want to have to deal with Marvin any more than he had to today, and decided that if he was going to call again, it would be later.

 

He made his way back to the hotel room, smiling faintly at the sound of laughter from behind the door.

 

“What are you two doing to Mickey?” Whizzer asked as he opened the door, laughing when he saw that Kevin had Connor pinned on the bed, and was viciously attacking the other man’s sides with his hands. Arnold was tickling Connor’s feet, the poor redhead desperately trying to get out of his friend’s grasp but failing as he twisted and tried to roll over.

 

“Kev… Kevin, please! Let me up!” Connor was struggling to push himself out from underneath the taller man, who paused for a second, looking down at the man below him.

 

“Arnold, you can let his legs go for a second, stop tickling him and let him get a breath,”

 

Arnold did as instructed, staying near Connor’s feet as the two friends let him catch his breath after laughing so hard from being tickled.

 

“Hey, Kevin, get off of him. He’s small. You don’t want to break him,”

 

“Am not!”

 

“Yes, you are,” Kevin laughed down at Connor, smiling when they made eye contact. “If you really want me to stop, I guess I will, but only because we have Disney World to go to.”

 

“Oh, joy. Saved by Disney.” Connor rolled his eyes as Kevin rolled over and got off of him, the taller man now latching onto Connor in a hug and refusing to let go.

 

“Kevin, come on, we should start trying to go,” Whizzer found himself trying to help Arnold pry his brother off of Connor, laughing as Kevin only glared and held tighter, Connor trying to get out of his grip too.

 

“Why?”

 

“Because we have Disney World to go to?”

 

“...fine.” Kevin let go of Connor, the two standing up. Kevin found himself walking towards the coffee pot in their room, and he decided to go ahead and drink a cup since he wasn’t sure when they’d be leaving, if they were even going somewhere he could get coffee.

 

“Thank you,” Whizzer shook his head as he looked over at Arnold. “If these two don’t stop…” he whispered to the other man. Arnold nodded.

 

“You’re not wrong. How’re we going to actually get them together, though?”

 

“We’re going to Uganda in a week right? So if we want to do any romantic Disney stuff we’ll have to speed getting them together up, which will probably be a lot of work.”

 

“We could probably pull it off, though,”

 

“Maybe. I don’t know if there’s enough time, and if not, we can come back later, or we can send them here after they’re together,”

 

“That’d be a good idea, if they’d ever actually get together. How do they not see it?” Arnold sighed as he watched his friend bump Connor’s hip when they stood next to each other, Connor laughing and messing up Kevin’s hair before stealing a drink of his coffee. Kevin shook his head, pretending to glare at Connor, but not doing too well of a job, before sitting in one of the chairs at the little table the hotel room provided.

 

“I’ve tried talking to them, too. To my knowledge, they’ve been cuddling every night, at least since I came, which, now that I say that, I realize isn’t a long time, but it’s been a couple nights,”

 

“Ooh, really?”

 

“Yeah, I even got a picture this morning, if you want to see it,” Whizzer took out his phone, finding the picture as soon as he could and showing it to Arnold quickly. “Just don’t tell them I have it. I don’t want them to yell at me or something,”

 

“That’s a good picture! Are you going to try to get any more?”

 

“If I can without them knowing, definitely. When they actually get together, we can make them a scrapbook or something,”

 

“That’d be a good idea,” 

 

“Thanks, if you want you can help me once we’ve gotten enough pictures. I’m going to see how many I can get while we’re here in Orlando, too,”

 

“It shouldn’t be hard to get some good ones here,”

 

“Yeah. Should we try to get going, or leave them to whatever they’re doing?”

 

“We should probably try to get them to hurry up so we can get out the door, we have a Disney park to go to, and Kevin won’t be happy if we don’t get to go,”

 

“I don’t doubt it. Will it be leaving-the-mission mad or-”

 

“You don’t want to know,”

 

“Ooh. Got it. Thanks,”

 

After he said this, Arnold raised his voice so his friend could hear. “Are we ready to go to Disney World again?”

 

“Yeah!” Kevin almost shouted it as he launched out of the chair, nearly falling onto the floor.

 

Arnold and Connor both made a move to help him, Whizzer only shaking his head and laughing as they did so.

 

“He’s fine, he didn’t fall,”

 

“I almost did, though,” Kevin and Whizzer stuck their tongues out at each other quickly before the subject was changed.

 

“Are you excited?” 

 

“Definitely. You all are going to get to see Mick-”

 

“Mickey’s already in here?” Whizzer cocked his head to the right as he spoke, looking at Connor, who laughed.

 

“Wrong Mickey, sorry, Cheese Whiz,”

 

“Cheese Whiz?” Kevin between his brother and Connor with curiosity, not entirely sure what the name meant. He almost asked what had happened last night that he missed, because they both seemed to understand it.

 

“Mickey?” Arnold looked ar Whizzer for a full thirty seconds before shaking his head. “That’s pushing it a little,”

 

“No, no. His last name is McKinley, right?”

 

“...yeah,”

 

“It sounds like Mickey. Real science. You can’t prove me wrong.”

 

“It… it does, though,” Arnold looked at the wall for a second as he tried to find a flaw in the nickname, unable to come up with one. “I thought you were going to say that there was a similarity because of Kevin,” he finally whispered, trying to be quiet enough so only Whizzer could hear him. 

 

“See? Arnold gets it,”

 

“And what about Cheese Whiz?”

 

“His name is Whizzer, right?”

 

Whizzer coughed, and it sounded almost like he said the word “nickname”, but no one could be sure.

 

“But his name is Whizzer? Cheese Whiz. Whizzer starts with Whiz. I doubt it’ll stay, I was just trying to come up with one on the spot last night in retaliation to the one he gave me,”

 

“You should keep Cheese Whiz, if only because it’ll give me an excuse to go to the store and buy him ten cans of the stuff and tell the cashiers I’m getting cheese whiz for my brother, Cheese Whiz,”

 

“Okay… I guess it’ll stay? I don’t know how long we’ll remember it, though,”

 

“I’m fine with it, it’s not a bad nickname, but Kevin, I swear, if you get me ten cans of cheese whiz…”

 

“Fine, I won’t. The stuff is disgusting. Did you call Mom and Dad again yesterday?”

 

“That’s what we were supposed to do! I forgot. I’ll call them now, before we go, and explain what happened,”

 

“Okay. Tell them I said hello, yeah?”

 

“Got it.” Whizzer too his phone back out of his pocket, calling his mom, who answered fairly quickly. 

 

“Hey, Mom, how’re you?”

 

“I’m doing well, what about you?”

 

“I’m okay, I guess. Sorry I never called yesterday, we got busy trying to make sure we had everything together, we’re leaving in.. six days, now? For Uganda,”

 

“If you want, we can try to drive up to Utah and you can see Mom and Dad again,” 

 

“Ooh, yeah, that’d be fun. Mom? What do you say? Would you be willing to have us in Utah for a couple days?”

 

“That’d be nice! We’ll be ready for if you do come,”

 

“We will. You can meet Mickey!”

 

“Who?”

 

“Mickey, Kevin’s-”

 

“Okay, how about we  _ not _ ?” Kevin interrupted his brother, glancing over at Connor before quickly glueing his eyes to the wall.

 

“Mickey is Kevin’s other friend. That’s all I was going to say, Kevin,” Whizzer gave his brother a look, Kevin only nodding.

 

“That’ll be good. I can make the guest room up and he can-”

 

“Would it be okay if they shared a room, actually? Mick has some problems sleeping at night and it helps him to have someone else in the room with him,”

 

“Oh, yeah, that’ll be fine. Does Arnold want to stay with us as well? I can set the spare room up for him,”

 

“Arnold?” Whizzer looked at the other man as he spoke, Arnold nodding that  _ yes, I would like to stay there, too, if that’s alright.  _ “Yeah, he’s good with staying with you,”

 

“Okay, great! I’ll start setting up for you guys then,”

 

“Arnold’s girlfriend, Nabulungi, is with us, too,”

 

“Okay, that’s fine. We’ll find a spot for all of you somewhere,”

 

“Okay, thanks,”

 

“Your Dad is home if you want to talk to him,”

 

“Oh. Uh… sure. If he, you know…”

 

“He does,”

 

“Okay. Uhm… Yeah. I’d like to talk to him, if that’s okay,”

 

“Okay. Here he is,”

 

“Hi,” his Dad’s voice was calm. Fairly quiet.

 

“Hi, Dad,”

 

“How’ve you been holding up?”

 

“I’ve been doing okay. I’m with Kevin right now,”

 

“That’s good. I overheard that you might be coming soon?”

 

“Yeah, we’re currently in Orlando, but you probably already know that, and we’re going to go up to Utah for a couple days to see you and Mom before going to Uganda. I’ve decided I might as well go with them, I don’t really have too many other places to go and I think it’d be fun,”

 

“You’re always welcome to stay here for as long as you need,”

 

“I know, and I really appreciate it. I just think it’d be fun to go to Uganda for a bit, I’ll be visiting the United States some still, whenever I can, really, but… I think it’d be fun,”

 

“Okay. Good luck, and if you need any money, don’t hesitate to call, you know how to contact us. We’re happy to help,”

 

“Thanks, Dad,”

 

“Oh… and I, uh, I painted your old room a little,”

 

“That’s almost scary,”

 

“Yeah. Uh… we painted the gay pride flag on the wall yesterday, and the walls are… do you still like pink?”

 

“Yeah, of course!”

 

“Okay, good. We painted the walls a light pink, I think it looks pretty good. The uh, the pink paint was over a year ago, though, so it’s already dry. Everything’s still in there, nothing got…”

 

“Thanks, Dad,”

 

“It’s not a problem. How long are you all staying in Orlando?”

 

“Well, it looks like we’re only staying for…” Whizzer looked to his brother for a number.

 

“Three days at the longest, so we can drive up to Utah and have enough time to actually see them and get some sleep before we go to Uganda.” Kevin looked to Connor for approval of the plan, the other man nodding. 

 

“That’s…” Connor took his phone out and started to look up how long it would take to get from Orlando to Salt Lake City. “Thirty four hours.”

 

“Okay, so if we stay here for three days, that’s two, max, on the road, and then two days at Mom and Dad’s. That’ll work,”

 

“Okay. So I think Kevin has decided that we can go in three days, we’ll be there in five,”

 

“Okay, that’ll be good,”

 

“Okay.”

 

“I’ve got some work I need to do, I’m going to pass you back to your mom, but I just want to make sure you know that I’m sorry and that I- we- support you and that we’re happy you’re okay,”

 

“Okay. Good luck, don’t hurt yourself,”

 

“I won’t. Love you,”

 

“Love you too, Dad,”

 

“We’re going to let you go so you can spend time with your brother, have fun,”

 

“Okay, thanks, Mom. Love and miss you,”

 

“Love and miss you too,”

 

“Bye,”

 

“Bye,”

 

And with that, the call was over. Whizzer looked up at his brother and two friends, nodding.

 

“We’re good to go there, if you want. I’m fine either way,”

 

“Okay. I think it’d be nice to go,” Kevin shrugged on a jacket as he spoke.

 

“Yeah, you can have Connor meet our parents. It’d be appropriate, wouldn’t it?”

 

Arnold looked between the two brothers, seeing how clear it was that Kevin didn’t like Whizzer making comments like this, especially in front of Connor. 

 

“Hey, Connor, how about we go to the other room and make sure Nutella is ready,”

 

“Oh...kay?” Connor seemed confused as he followed an almost desperate Arnold to the other hotel room, the latter closing the door behind them when they got in.

 

“Can you please stop?” 

 

“Stop what?” Whizzer put on an innocent facade as he asked his brother this.

 

“Stop that! Stop dropping hints!”

 

“You’re not doing too great at it yourself, genius. You told him last night that you thought he was pretty, and you also said, and I quote, ‘I wanna go riding on the beach with you and hold your hand and cuddle you and-’, but he cut you off before you could continue pouring your heart out at him.”

 

“What? Why didn’t you stop me?”

 

“We were trying to go to bed, and Connor was trying to get you to go to sleep, and I was busy laughing my ass off in my bed to actually say anything.”

 

“Really?”

 

“You’re doing a wonderful job at being one hundred percent heterosexual around Mickey, by the way. You fucking pinned him to the bed, called him small, and in all honesty, I think Arnold and I were both surprised you two didn’t start making out or something after you tickled him.”

 

“I-”

 

“And then you hugged him and wouldn’t let go.”

 

“I-”

 

“You’re doing a great job at convincing everyone you’re not in love with him. You need to admit it to yourself.”

 

“What is there to admit? He doesn’t…”

 

“Okay? And? How do you know?”

 

“Because when we first met he performed an entire tap number about crushing gay thoughts.”

 

“Fine.”

 

“How about we stop and talk about Marvin, if we’re going to talk about love lives? He’s a dick, he obviously hasn’t been good, and yet you still talk to him and the people around him. Why is that, exactly?”

 

“Because, as much as I hate to admit it, the kid grew on me, and I ruined the entire family. I should at least try to hold some responsibility. He fucking hit his ex-wife, by the way. So I had to yell at him about that.”

 

“Why yell? And why do you care so much?”

 

“Because they’ve impacted my life as much as I have theirs. Let’s go, we’re going to be late, and I don’t think your boyfriend wants to be away from you for so long.”

 

“He’s not my boyfriend, and he’s fine being with Arnold and Nabulungi. He doesn’t need me to survive, Whizzer.”

 

“Whatever. Let’s just go.”


	12. Utah (Or, Chocolate Chip Pancakes Part Two)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi nerds! (I mean that in the most affectionate way possible)  
> Since I'm not going to be here to update Friday, so I decided to go ahead and update today. If I can, I might put another chapter Friday, if I have internet, but I can't be too sure, so there's the possibility of another chapter Friday, but it's not definite. Thanks again for reading!

For sake of time, we’re going to summarize what happened in Orlando, Florida, starting from when Kevin Price received a phone call to when he was waking up early in the morning and helping his friends and brother load the car to go to Utah.

 

Kevin received the text around lunchtime, maybe, and it was from his brother, who he hadn’t spoken to in years. The text led to a phone call, which ended in Connor and Kevin both in the car, driving to Tennessee to pick up Whizzer and take him to Florida with them. Whizzer seemed to be hell-bent on embarrassing the two with how much he talked about them both dating, and when he wasn’t doing that, he was either arguing with Kevin or having a decent conversation with Connor. Occasionally, he’d even strike up a conversation with Arnold about how they were going to get the two together, which they were determined to do.

 

Kevin convinced Whizzer to call their parents and explain what had happened, that he was still okay, and to learn that they had changed.

 

Whizzer and Connor ended up nicknaming each other, Connor also offering to make Whizzer a pink sparkly vest.

 

Marvin hit Trina, Whizzer somehow ended up arguing with Marvin again, and the two hadn’t spoken since. Whizzer hadn’t even heard anything from Jason in the two to three days since the last phone call he had with Marvin.

 

Kevin and Connor were invited to visit their parent’s house, and to take Nabulungi, Connor, and Arnold with them.

 

They went everywhere they could in Disney World after the invitation was given, not sure when they would get another chance to go to Orlando but also wanting to see Kevin’s parents (Whizzer kept making comments about how Connor could meet their parents, it’s only appropriate, and then you meet his).

 

When they actually left to go to Utah, Whizzer was the first to drive, Nabulungi sitting in the passenger seat with Kevin, Connor, and Arnold all in the back.

 

The drive was long for all of them, for various reasons.

 

Whizzer and Kevin would find little things to argue about, or they would both be on the same side and argue with someone else.

 

It was also difficult to sleep, because they were in a car, all crammed together, and it’s hard to get comfortable enough to get any sleep in a car like that.

 

When they finally arrived at the house, they all gave sighs of relief, since, when planning how they would drive, had decided that “Oh, it won’t be too bad! We can take turns driving, and we can all sleep while the other person is driving! It’ll be fine.”

 

They were lucky that coffee existed and that, even though it was hard, they were somehow able to get some sleep, Kevin being used as a pillow for Arnold and Connor for the beginning of the trip.

 

When they got to the house, they rang the doorbell before getting anything out of the car.

 

Even though it was fairly late, the door was opened by who could be assumed was Kevin and Whizzer’s mom.

 

She let the group inside the house, putting a cookie in each person’s hand as well as a mug of warm milk, before she said that they didn’t have to worry about getting anything from the car that night- there were clothes inside the house they could all use, if they wanted.

 

Everyone was tired enough that they agreed.

 

Kevin and Connor ended up crashing on Kevin’s bed that night, not even bothering to change. When Kevin’s mom went to check on them, she smiled a little at the sight of her son curled up with Connor, the two clearly comfortable in what was almost a tangle of limbs.

 

Whizzer did the same in his own room, falling onto his bed and going to sleep without looking around his room, figuring that there would time the next day to see it.   
  
Nabulungi was in the guest room, and she actually got into the bed somewhat normally before going to sleep.

 

Arnold was on the couch, since Kevin’s mom hadn’t been too sure if he wanted to take one of the other rooms in the house or not, and he had crashed before anyone could ask him.

 

They all woke up that morning to the smell of pancakes, bacon, and eggs, and the sound of Whizzer shouting or screaming something. No one could quite make out what it was, but they were fairly sure it wasn’t because the Chainsaw Massacre guy came into the kitchen.

 

You could never be too sure, sometimes.

 

It was Kevin that suggested it was the Chainsaw Massacre when he and Connor were both (rudely) awoken by Whizzer being loud, Kevin cuddling into Connor more after saying his thoughts.

 

“I doubt it.”

 

“You’re right, it’s the Jigsaw guy,”

 

“No, Kevin. We need to get up, come on,”

 

“It’s too early,” Kevin held out the end of the word, nuzzling his face into Connor’s hair.

 

“Come on, we need to go,”

 

“Why? It’s comfortable here,”

 

“Yes, but we have to get our stuff out of the car, and I have to meet your parents still,”

 

“You act like it’s meeting your boyfriend’s parents or something. It’s not too big of a deal, there’s not much to know- they’re kinda odd, but nice once you get to know them.”

 

“Kevin, please. I want to meet…” Connor drifted off as he thought about the ways he could end his sentence.  _ I want to meet the people that raised you. The people that raised quite possibly the most amazing person I know. The people that raised who is probably one of the proudest, most self-absorbed, and yet… greatest people I know.  _ “I want to meet the people that are letting me stay in their home.”

 

“They won’t mind. You’re cuddling with me.”

 

“Yes, you’re right. And as fun as this is, we need to go,”

 

“Fine, let’s go get some breakfast,” Kevin let Connor out of his grip, wrapping the blanket around himself as the other man sat up on the bed, looking down at Kevin.

 

“Please come,”

 

“I am, I am,” Kevin sat up too, bringing the blanket with him and hugging Connor, wrapping the other man up in it with him.

 

“This doesn’t look like getting out of bed and going to get breakfast, Kevin.” Connor stood, getting out of the embrace and starting to exit the room, looking back at Kevin for a minute, gesturing for him to follow, before going out into the hall and following wherever the smell was coming from.

 

He found the kitchen fairly easily, trying to avoid laughing when he saw Whizzer on the table.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

“What do you  _ think  _ I’m doing? I’m trying to change this fucking lightbulb. It-”

 

“You need to turn it off, first, idiot,” Kevin yawned as he walked into the room, still wrapped in a blanket.

 

“It would help if the light was off, yes,” Connor said, as Kevin dropped his head on the other man’s shoulder, nuzzling into his neck and hugging him from behind and wrapping the blanket around the two of them again.

 

“Good morning, you two,” Kevin’s mom was at the oven, cooking bacon on the stove. “How did you both sleep?”

 

“Pretty good, thank you,” Connor nodded, trying to ignore Kevin, who hugged him tighter.

 

“Mmph.” Kevin closed his eyes, smiling a little into Connor’s shoulder.

 

“You two are going to make me sick,” Whizzer glared at the both of them, getting off the table and grabbing the lightbulb so he could replace the broken one. “Hey, Mom, can you turn this light off?” 

 

She nodded, flipping a switch by the oven, making the room just a little bit darker.

 

“You two are so adorable! How long have you been together?” Kevin’s Mom turned around to look at them as Whizzer got back on the table so he could replace the light.

 

“That’s the-” Whizzer began, but he was cut off by Kevin, who looked up and rested his chin on Connor’s shoulder.

 

“We’re not.” he stood up straighter, letting go of Connor and walking towards his mother, hugging her before going to sit at the table.

 

“Oh. I just… you two…”

 

“Exactly! You see it too!” Whizzer stopped what he was doing, pointing first at his mom and then to Kevin and Connor.

 

“...Is Arnold up yet?” Kevin looked to his mom for the answer, standing when she nodded and pointed to the living room.

 

“Your dad should be up soon, and he’s going to help you bring your stuff inside,”

 

Connor nodded as he sat at the table, wondering if he should make conversation or not.

 

“So, Connor, Whizzer told me that you make pink sparkly vests?”

 

“Uh… yeah. I’ve made some for the other missionaries that are out there with us. I think Kevin had one,”

 

“You convinced him to wear it?”

 

“Yeah, he wore it for a little bit, I’m not sure if he still has it or not, though,”

 

“Oh, he definitely has it,” Whizzer said as he jumped off the table, done with his job.

 

“What do you mean?” Connor was curious- how could Whizzer know? Had Kevin specifically told him that he had kept it? Why had he told Whizzer this information?

 

“Just a hunch.”

 

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he kept it, either. I can see it in his eyes, Whizzer was right. Both of you.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“It’s in the way you interact and the way you look at each other. You’re going to have to-”

 

“Hey, Connor, I was going to try to go get some stuff from the car. Want to come with me? Arnold’s occupied with Star Wars, so he’s not coming,”

 

“Oh… sure,” Connor stood, uncertain, but made his way outside with Kevin, who shed his blanket on the couch. 

 

“Are they always like that?” Whizzer’s mom looked over at her son as she asked. He nodded.

 

“From what I’ve seen, yes. Arnold and I are hoping to get them together eventually. You should’ve seen them a couple days ago! They had fallen asleep and were all cuddled up and it was adorable. I have a picture, if you want to see it,”

 

“Sure! After breakfast, you can show me,” Whizzer’s mom started on the pancakes, putting chocolate chips in them.

 

“That’d be good. Do you want me to go check on Dad?”

 

“You can if you want. He got off work fairly late last night, that’s why he’s not out here. He wanted to be awake when you guys got here, but he couldn’t,”

 

“It’s fine, we’ve got a couple days where we can see him,”

 

“I know. We know. We just…”

 

“I’m not going anywhere. Now that I’m back, you’re going to wish that you could get me to stop talking to you. Maybe. It’ll depend, actually.”

 

“Thank you. We just… We missed six years. There’s not a good enough excuse for that.”

 

“You’re here now,”

 

“Thank you. Now, go wake up your dad, tell him breakfast is almost ready, and get your brother back inside,”

 

“Okay. Love you, Mom,”

 

“Love you too,”

 

Whizzer went to the living room, going down the hall to his parents’ room and smiling when he saw his dad was still in bed.

 

“Hey, Dad, guess what?” Whizzer sat on his mom’s side of the bed, legs crossed, and looking at his dad. “Your favorite gay son is here,” he poked the older man, waiting for his father to wake up.

 

His Dad cracked open an eye.

 

“Breakfast is almost ready. Mom said to come get you up. Kevin’s here, too, I have to drag him back inside,”

 

“Morning to you too. How was the drive?”

 

“It was okay. I’m going to go get Kevin, I think Mom wants you at the table,”

 

“Okay. Thanks,”

 

“Welcome,” Whizzer got off the bed, leaving the room and going back to the living room, going out the front door. He smiled a little when he saw Kevin and Connor on the porch swing, Kevin rocking them back and forth as they talked quietly.

 

“It’s time to come in,” he called over to them, Connor and Kevin both looking over at him as he did so. “Dad’s up,” 

 

Whizzer walked back into the house after making the statement, telling Arnold and Nabulungi that it was time for breakfast when he passed them. 

 

“Here,” his Dad threw something soft at him when he walked into the kitchen, which he reached to catch. 

 

“Thanks, Dad,” Whizzer smiled softly at the little rainbow bear in his hand, laughing a little at the little shirt on it that said “I’M GAY” in all capital letters. 

 

“No problem. We thought you’d like it,” 

 

They could hear the tv being paused, and about thirty seconds later, Arnold and Nabulungi were walking into the kitchen, followed by Kevin and Connor.

 

“After we eat, your father can help you bring your stuff in, and… we don’t really have any plans, so you all are free to do whatever you want,”

 

“Okay, thanks,” Connor said, sitting in the chair that Kevin pulled out for him, before scooting closer to the table.

 

“How long-” their dad started, but he was cut off by his wife and Whizzer.

 

“They’re not.” The two said it at the same time, Whizzer glaring at Kevin as they did so.

 

“What?” Connor looked around at the family in confusion. 

 

“Nothing.” Kevin glared back at his brother, as well as his parents. 

 

“Oh…Kay,” their dad accepted a pancake as he said this, clearly not entirely convinced as he watched his son steal another glance at Connor, but he dropped the subject. “So, Whizzer, what’ve you been up to?”

 

“Oh. I’ve gone into photography a little, I actually have some pictures with me, if you want to see them, and I’ve also been into racquetball and baseball. But you know about those two, I think,”

 

“Yeah, I’d like to see some of the pictures, if that’s okay,”

 

“That’d be great, actually! Maybe you could help me pick some to send to a gallery, if I ever do,”

 

“I’d be happy to!”

 

With that, they all turned to breakfast, Kevin glaring at his pancakes because of the chocolate chips, but saying nothing until Connor reached over and tried to take a bite from his plate.

 

“No.” He turned his glare to the redhead, who only laughed a little and shook his head. “Mine.”

 

“Fine, fine. I won’t take them. You’ve just been giving them that look. It’s almost as bad as the one that you gave that one stranger that tried to buy me a drink that one time,”

 

“You didn’t need a drink! You clearly had a drink with you, and you don’t need alcohol!”

 

“Okay, okay. But I think you were giving the pancakes a worse look,”

 

“Oh, Kevin, I’m so sorry! I completely forgot you prefer regular pancakes,” his mom apologized, looking at her husband and giving him a questioning look. He nodded, agreeing that they would definitely talk about that later.

  
  


“No, it’s okay,” Kevin glared at Connor as he ate a bite of the pancake, clearly daring him to try to take another bite. 

 

“I’m not going to take your food! You can stop giving me that look,” Connor poked Kevin in the side before returning to his own food.

 

Kevin only narrowed his eyes before looking away, eyes back down on his food. The entire group finished eating in about an hour, Kevin’s parents taking the time to try to figure out what was going on between Kevin and Connor, deciding they would ask Whizzer what he knew about the two, as well as asking the group various questions.

 

They tried to avoid giving Connor a full-out interrogation, since they weren’t entirely sure if he was dating their son or not, and didn’t want to weird him out in case he wasn’t.

 

But they highly doubted he wasn’t, just watching them interact.

 

After breakfast, Whizzer stayed in the kitchen with his parents, ready to lay out what he knew about his brother and Connor, as well as show them the pictures he had of the two.

 

“What’s going on between them?” 

 

“A lot of denial.” Whizzer crossed his arms. “They’ve been like this the entire time I’ve been around them. It’s painful to watch. And to hear about. They can’t just come to terms with it or something.”

 

“That’s… not good.” His mom shook her head.

 

“It isn’t. Arnold and I are hoping to get them together somehow, but we don’t know how yet. They fell asleep like this one night,” Whizzer pulled up the picture from when they watched Lady and the Tramp, showing it to his parents, who shook their heads.

 

“I’d be willing to see what I can do, but I don’t know if there’s much help I can offer,” his dad shrugged.

 

“It’ll work out, hopefully. They’ll hopefully come their sense on their own, but thankfully, we don’t have to wait as long for that to happen,”

 

“Okay. Just… please, be careful,” his mom shook her head, worried for her sons. She didn’t want either of them to do something they might regret.

 

“I always am,” 

 

“...that could be debatable, but if you want to believe it, go for it,”

 

“Yeah, thanks, Dad.”

 

“It’s true, son. Come on, let’s go get all the stuff out of your car,” his dad started to go out to the front door, making his way outside and waiting for one of his sons to unlock the door.

 

“Fine,” Whizzer followed, grabbing the keys off the counter as he went, pressing the button to unlock the car. His dad opened the trunk after hearing the sound of the car being unlocked, grabbing a couple bags before going inside. Whizzer followed, getting his own bag and going inside.

 

“Kevin!” they could hear Whizzer and Kevin’s dad shouting from Kevin’s room. Whizzer was almost worried for a second, about to run into the room to defend his brother, but he stopped himself when he remembered that it was okay. Their dad wouldn’t do anything. Kevin was okay. They were all okay.

 

“Dad!” they could hear Kevin shout back from the living room, where he had been watching Star Wars with Arnold, Nabulungi, and Connor.

 

“Is this your bag?” his father came out of the room with the bags he had brought into the house, Kevin shaking his head.

 

“No, that’s Arnold’s, and that’s Nabulungi’s. I can go out and get mine and Connor’s bags,” Kevin stood, stretching as he spoke, before going outside and getting the last two bags from the car, closing the trunk before going back inside and carrying the two bags to his room. Connor followed him, saying something about trying to figure out sleeping arrangements and helping Kevin with the bags.

 

Everyone just shook their heads but went with it.

 

“How long are you planning on staying?” the question was directed at Whizzer. They already knew that Arnold, Nabulungi, Kevin, and Connor were leaving in three days, but now that Whizzer was on good terms with his parents, they weren’t sure if he planned on staying in America.

 

“I’m still leaving with them. I love you both, but… I still think I want to go to Uganda. I’ll visit when I can, I promise,”

 

“Okay. Just promise to stay out of trouble while you’re there, please,”

 

“I won’t purposely stir up a snake’s nest, if that’s what you’re asking,”

 

“Thank you,”

 

“It’s not a problem. I don’t exactly have a death wish.”

 

“Good.” his parents both nodded at his father’s words.


	13. They Explain a Thing, and There’s a Bootleg

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update, my laptop broke and yesterday was just Not Great. I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

“What?” their mother seemed surprised. Their Dad was less so, only nodding in understanding when it was explained.

 

“Yeah. That… he’s, you know, but…”

 

“Okay. That’s okay! There might be a way to help him,” 

 

“We don’t know. He’s been sharing a room with Kevin, they’ve actually been sharing a bed, and he hasn’t seemed to have had them, at least not bad ones, for about a week?” Whizzer turned to his brother when he asked, getting a nod in answer.

 

“Yeah, it’s been about a week. I’m worried they’re going to start up again, really badly, soon, since he hasn’t had one, at least, like Whizzer said, a really bad one, in a little while. I think the last one he had that was really bad was when we were back in Uganda- any that he had when we were in Orlando weren’t that bad,” Kevin crossed his arms, leaning on the counter behind him.

 

“How long has-”

 

“They’ve been going on for years. Since he was in fifth grade, I think that’s when he said they started? Fifth, sixth grade,”

 

“Maybe he’ll grow out of them? As ridiculous as that may sound, maybe they’re something that go with age,” their mother suggested, worry in her eyes. 

 

“I doubt it. I think it’s more of a matter of coming to terms with himself, and Kevin here happens to-”

 

“Whizzer. You need to stop. Whatever feelings either of us may have don’t matter, everyone we’re around wouldn’t support it, even if we wanted to.”

 

“I’m just saying. You two need to acknowledge it.”

 

“Why don’t you tell Mom and Dad what happened to you?” Kevin seemed eager to change the subject, not a fan of all the attention he now had.

 

“What is there to tell? I was with a guy-”

 

“He would go off and sleep with other people,” Kevin cut his brother off so he could make sure his parents knew.

 

“And he had fragile masculinity. I guess we all make mistakes, don’t we?”

 

“Whizzer…” his mom sighed, his dad shaking his head.

 

“It’s getting late. We should probably try to see if anyone wants to watch a movie before we go to bed,” 

 

Kevin checked the clock at his brother’s words, a little surprised to see that it was eight o’clock.

 

“Yeah, that’d be a good idea. We can make ice cream sundaes, too,” Kevin nodded, looking to his parents for the okay to the idea.

 

“It’s fine with us. We were planning on going to the neighbor’s for a couple hours so you all could have the house to yourself,”

 

“No, you don’t have to,”

 

“They invited us over anyways, and we were just going to talk to them. It’s nothing any of you did or anything,”

 

“Okay, good,”

 

“And if you can, please at least talk to him,”

 

“Mom,” Kevin rolled his eyes. “No. I’m sorry, it’s not happening. You all need to leave us alone about it.”

 

“Fine, fine. If that’s what you want, and what you think really makes both of you happy, we won’t make you. We’ll leave you alone about it.” his mom shook her head as she spoke, almost as if she didn’t believe her own words.

 

“Thank you.” 

 

“But we’re going to leave you children alone for a couple hours, you’re free to turn on a movie or something, anything’s fine as long as you don’t burn down the house or throw a huge party,”  

 

“Okay, yeah. Thanks, Dad,” Kevin nodded, pushing off of the counter. “C’mon, Cheese Whiz, let’s tell the others,” 

 

Whizzer followed his brother out of the room, rolling his eyes at the nickname and shaking his head at his parent’s confused looks.

 

It was almost a relief to find Connor, Arnold, and Nabulungi all in the living room, all sitting around the room. Arnold and Nabulungi had taken one of the couches, Connor hanging off the other upside down, waving to Kevin and Whizzer when they came into the room and pulling himself up.

 

“Mom and Dad are leaving for a couple hours, we have the house to ourselves. What do you guys think about a movie and ice cream sundaes?”

 

“Ooh, that’d be fun! I say we do it,” Arnold was visibly excited at the idea.

 

“I’m game, we just need to figure out a movie,” Connor was now laying on the couch on his stomach, his head on his arms.

 

“I say we watch Saw.”

 

“No! We’re not-” Kevin was cut off by Arnold.

 

“What’s that about?” 

 

“Yeah, is it like… a documentary on saws or something?” Connor lifted his head up, cocking an eyebrow at the two brothers.

 

Whizzer only laughed, Kevin glaring daggers at him.

 

“I… do not understand. Why do you want to watch a saw movie? What’s so funny about asking about it?” Nabulungi seemed unsure by the choice of movie Whizzer seemed to have.

 

“Because it’s not about saws,” Whizzer seemed to find their questions hilarious for some odd reason.

 

“No, it’s not. It’s a torture porn movie-” Kevin was interrupted by his brother, who rolled his eyes and shook his head.

 

“I wouldn’t call it  _ torture porn.  _ It’s a classic.” Whizzer argued.

 

“...not really, but okay. It’s an investigative horror movie that’s… difficult to describe.”

 

Connor looked Kevin in the eyes as he spoke, as if trying to make a point. “Let’s watch it.”

 

“Yeah! It sounds interesting!” Even Arnold seemed on board with it, Nabulungi nodding with him. Kevin shook his head, just a little bit.

 

“Or we could watch Snakes on a Plane,” Whizzer suggested it as if it was any better.

 

“...I think we can find a bootlegged copy of Saw online,”

 

Cheering all around.

 

“But don’t say I didn’t try to warn you.” Kevin shook his head, muttering about how bad of an idea it was to watch the movie but that if that’s really what they wanted, they’d do it.

 

“Do you want me to make the popcorn and stuff?” Whizzer volunteered, already starting to go back to the kitchen.

 

“I can help you if you want,” Connor rolled off the couch, patting Kevin on the shoulder when he walked past him, joining Whizzer in the kitchen. Kevin shook his head, debating on if he should move the coffee table or not.

 

“We should get pillows and blankets and stuff and we can make a fort!” 

 

“I can ask my parents, if you want,” Kevin offered, Arnold nodding his head.

 

“Or we could all just take over couches and put our blankets on them,” it was Nabulungi that suggested this, not entirely sure how do-able a fort was.

 

“If the fort doesn’t work out, definitely. You two can go change into pajamas if you want, bring your blankets and pillows out, and get any stuffed animals you’re going to want, because trust me, this movie isn’t for the faint of heart,”

 

“Oh… kay?” 

 

“It’s not  _ that  _ bad,” Whizzer came back into the room, bowls of popcorn in each hand. Connor followed not too far behind, carrying two more bowls. 

 

“ _ Not that bad.  _ Sure. Definitely.”

 

“It’s not Snakes on a Plane.”

 

“I thought we agreed to just watch Saw?” Connor was clearly not in the mood for the brothers to fight, Kevin looking at him as he spoke.

 

“Okay. I’ll see if i can find it, you two can go get changed into pajamas if you want, and bring all the pillows and blankets you can from the rooms. We’re going to make a nest if we can’t make a fort,”

 

Nods of agreement were the answer Kevin received. Whizzer helped him move the coffee table, the two brothers having to resist the urge to chuck it out the window because they couldn’t find a spot to put it. When they finally did, they put the four bowls of popcorn on it before everyone departed to their rooms to change and steal all the blankets and pillows off the beds. By the time everyone came back out, they had enough blankets to never be cold again, and enough pillows to make a bed. Or two. Or three. Or a huge bed. Whatever it may be, they would’ve all been able to fit.

 

Especially if Kevin and Whizzer didn’t push each other off every five minutes.

 

But. You know.

 

Arnold was, of course, wearing a full out Star Wars outfit, and was pleasantly surprised when Kevin threw something soft at him, and when he caught it he saw it was a stuffed Yoda.

 

“You’re going to want it.” Kevin handed Nabulungi a stuffed Simba as he told his friend, nodding to her too. “Connor, do you want one?”

 

“Nah, he’s got you,” Whizzer made the offhand comment, getting a piece of popcorn from one of the bowls.

 

“If you want me to have one, I’ll take it, but I don’t need one,”

 

“He’s got you,” Whizzer said it again, as if trying to emphasize a point.

 

“I don’t see what that has to do with anything.” Kevin crossed his arms, glaring at his brother.

 

“Fine, fine. It was just a suggestion.” Whizzer lowered his voice, “Not that you two won’t end up all over each other anyway,”

 

“Do we want anything to drink?” Connor could sense that there was a tense air between the brothers, and wanted to do what he could to avoid them fighting.

 

“Sure! Hot chocolate would be nice, what do you think, Narcissa?”

 

“Arnold… how… that’s.... That’s not even close?” Whizzer seemed almost concerned.

 

“Yes! Hot chocolate would be great,”

 

“That sounds good to me,” Connor nodded, agreeing. 

 

“I can go make it if you want, Whizzer can try to find the movie,”

 

“You… have a, and I quote, ‘torture porn’ movie in your house? Your good mormon house?” Connor seemed amused.

 

“...I know for a fact that it’s not the worst thing to be in here. Whizzer’s here,”

 

“Kevin’s here too.”

 

“Shut up.”

 

“You shut up!”

 

“You need to stop, Whizzer.”

 

“Okay. I think that’s enough arguing for one day, yeah? Kevin, Whizzer, you both can go look for the movie, and no fighting. We can get the hot chocolate figured out,” Nabulungi looked between the two brothers, Arnold nodding and giving her a side hug. 

 

“...fine. Let’s go, it might be in the garage,” Kevin led the way, disappearing down the hall with his brother. 

 

“Okay. Now that they’re gone, we can have a break.” Nabulungi let herself fall onto the couch, curling up on it.

 

“I can get the hot chocolate, if you want,” Connor offered, watching as Arnold sat next to her. He walked to the kitchen, trying to find where the mugs were. He knew they had coffee mugs somewhere. Kevin had told him how he had explained what had happened to his parents, and about his newfound coffee addiction, and not too long after he had told them, they had gone out and bought plenty off coffee mugs for their son.

 

Also, there had been a few times in Whizzer and Kevin’s childhood when they had hot chocolate.

 

When he finally found the mugs, he got five out, putting them on the counter before going to try to find the hot chocolate mix.

 

There wasn’t any, so he improvised with Nesquik chocolate powder and nutella.

 

When he deemed them all chocolately enough, he carefully carried them to the living room, taking two at a time and giving Arnold and Nabulungi theirs, setting Whizzer’s, Kevin’s, and his own on the coffee table before sitting on the other couch, tapping his foot as he waited for the brothers to return.

 

“It’s a little odd that there’s only two of them, isn’t it?” Arnold spoke up after a minute.

 

“I… I guess, yeah,” Connor nodded, thinking about what the lack of siblings could mean. “Maybe they just didn’t want any more?”

 

“Or maybe they’re secretly serial killers and they’re planning on killing us too just like they did their other kids and they’ve trained Kevin and Whizzer in their ways,” Arnold seemed to get almost excited, but also nervous, mainly nervous, at the idea.

 

“I doubt that. Do you really think Kevin would try to hurt any of us?”

 

“Uh…”

 

“He wouldn’t. And I doubt Whizzer would either. They’ve both had multiple chances to kill us,”

 

“Maybe they were waiting for the right time, when they’re with their parents!”

 

“Arnold, they’re not serial killers,” Nabulungi looked up at him.

 

A crash, the sound of something falling, and a long string of curses stopped the conversation from continuing.

 

“Fuck! Shit. Shit. Are you okay? Holy  _ shit  _ that’s a lot of stuff. Oh my… are you bleeding?!” It was Whizzer’s voice. The lack of a response caused Arnold, Nabulungi, and Connor to share worried looks, Arnold giving an  _ “I told you so”  _ look.

 

Connor stood up, shaking his head at Arnold before running to where he could still hear Whizzer rambling.

 

“Are you two… what the fuck happened?” Connor stopped in the doorway of the room he saw the two brothers were in, crossing his arms at the sight of Whizzer stuck on a shelf and Kevin in a bucket, things on the ground around them.

 

“Woah, so he can curse,” Whizzer looked to the doorway, Kevin searching Connor’s face.

 

“Yes, he can. What did you two do?” Connor shook his head, carefully stepping around the room and glaring up at Whizzer.

 

“Okay, so it turns out that while we do have Saw, we also have the entire series, and there’s a whole bunch of stuff that we really don’t want to go into, but apparently we also have this like… entire box for it? And so we started joking the Jigsaw on the side would like… come to life and kill us or something. And then we heard a noise, that’s why I can’t come down, and then we found the-”

 

“They have the fucking doll,” Kevin pointed to a spot above Whizzer, who nodded, looking up at it. Connor sighed, following where both brothers were looking, and he was fairly sure he felt his heart stop for a second at the sight of it.

 

“Yeah. We saw the doll and then Kevin fell and knocked over the other shelf, and I can’t come down now because I’m up too high and accidentally kicked the ladder out from underneath me when I nearly fell,”

 

“Don’t forget the part when I almost got hit in the face with the ladder,”

 

“Why… okay. Why would they have the doll?”

 

“Why not?”

 

“But you do have the movie?”

 

“Yeah, it’s right here,” Whizzer waved the case around, showing Connor that they did indeed have the movie. Connor shook his head, going to Kevin and offering a hand to help him up out of the bucket.

 

“Are you okay?” he found himself asking the taller man, who shook his head.

 

“My head hurts a little, and I’m fairly sure my heart stopped for a minute there, but other than that, I think I’m okay,” Kevin walked over to where Whizzer was still hanging on for dear life on the shelf, looking down at his brother and friend. “Come on, it’s not going to get you,” Kevin sighed.

 

“Oh, no, I know that. I’m a bit concerned about the spider, though,”

 

“What- does anyone have a shoe?” Kevin glared at the spider, daring it to move.

 

Which it did, of course. Connor ended up using the Jigsaw box to kill it, disgusted looks all around when he did so. Kevin took the box from him after the spider was killed so he could wipe it off with a paper towel, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

 

“Okay, you can come down now,” Whizzer nodded at his brother’s words, climbing down from the shelf, walking out of the room and going to his own.

 

“So… you… you fell into a bucket?”

 

“I don’t… do you really want to know what happened?”

 

“Yeah, sure,”

 

“Okay. It’s… I don’t know if I should warn you about anything. It’s a little… yeah.”

 

“It’s fine,”

 

“Okay.”

  
  


\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

“What was with you earlier?” Kevin looked behind himself, trying to make sure Connor wasn’t paying attention to the two brothers as they went to the garage.

 

“What do you mean?” Whizzer was playing innocent. That was fine.

 

“You and Mom both. I… I don’t know how to explain it to you, to any of you, but you really need to stop. I’m sorry.”

 

“Okay. I want answers later.”

 

“I… Okay. I’ll see if I can give them to you.”

 

“Thank you. I just want to understand.”

 

“Okay.”

 

The two entered the room, stopping and looking around when they were halfway in.

 

“Any idea where it might be?” Whizzer looked at his brother as he asked.

 

“Nope,” Kevin shook his head as he answered, Whizzer shrugging and the two parting ways to search the room.

 

“Holy shit. What the fuck is this. Oh my-”

 

“What is it?”

 

“Why the fuck do they have this?” 

 

“What is- What the fuck,”’ Kevin stopped when he saw where his brother was looking.

 

“I… hang on, wasn’t it that one year? God, I can’t remember how old we were,  I think it was a year before I left, but I think we got that,”

 

“...why did they keep it?”

 

“Who knows. Let’s just… hope no one notices it. It’s not something that we want everyone and their mother to know about. Oh my God.”  Whizzer started to laugh, the sight going from almost fear to an odd comfort. The Jason mask had been bedazzled and painted a bright pink, thanks to the two brothers being bored a couple days after Halloween. The mask was moved from the floor to the shelf, the two brothers laughing a little as they looked at the terrible paint job they had done on it. They continued searching, Whizzer’s heart almost stopping when he found the box the movies were in.

 

“Oh my-”

 

“What the fuck? Why would… you know what, I don’t want to know. Just… grab your movie and let’s go,” Kevin shook his head.

 

“Holy shit!” Whizzer climbed up on the shelf to get the movie, almost falling when he saw the doll. He clutched onto the shelf for dear life, kicking the ladder out from underneath him as he tried to get his feet on the shelf. Kevin ended up getting hit in the head with the ladder, and he almost fell over. It wasn’t until he saw the doll that he ended up falling, attempting to step back but getting his foot stuck and falling into the bucket. Whizzer let out a long stream of curses, trying to check on his brother but unable to get down.

 

“Fuck! Shit. Shit. Are you okay? Holy  _ shit  _ that’s a lot of stuff. Oh my… are you bleeding?!” he was clearly worried, thinking about getting down but unsure how. They could hear the footsteps coming, Kevin unsure how to respond. He tried to give a small smile when Connor stood in the doorway, but couldn’t.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

“Wow. Are you okay?”

 

“Yeah, I’m just a little scratched up. Nothing too bad,”

 

“You’re bleeding. At least let me clean it so it doesn’t get infected or something.”

 

“Fine, if you really want to. I was just going to put a band-aid-”

 

“Kevin, you can’t just put a bandaid over a cut.”

 

“I know, I know.”

 

“Come on.” Connor led the way to the bathroom, getting a washcloth and closing the toilet lid, pushing Kevin onto it before wetting the washcloth.

 

“Hey, uh… thanks for doing this. I really appreciate it,”

 

“It’s no problem,” Connor pressed the cloth to Kevin’s head gently, shaking his own head before telling Kevin to hold the cloth while he got something to gauze the bleeding.

 

“It’s not that big of a deal, Connor. I really appreciate this, but we don’t have to do all this. It’s a little cut,”

 

“I know, I just don’t want it to get infected.”

 

“Thank you, but it’s not needed. It’s not that bad. Let’s just get it cleaned up and go watch the movie,”


	14. So it Turns Out the Movie Wasn’t Bootlegged, They Had a Legal Copy (or, They Watch a Horror Movie)

When they finally had Kevin cleaned up, they changed into their own pair of pajamas and went into the living room, joining Nabulungi, Arnold, and Whizzer in the blanket fort that had been made, part of it over the tv so the could watch the movie. Whizzer was the one that put it in, grabbing a blanket and wrapping up in it and grabbing a bowl of popcorn and a hot chocolate.

Kevin did almost the same, choosing to put it over Connor’s shoulders too and hugging him close as they sat together, a bowl of popcorn between them and two mugs of the hot chocolate next to them.

Arnold and Nabulungi had their own bowl of popcorn, too, and their own hot chocolates, cuddled up in a blanket as well, Arnold holding the Yoda and Nabulungi holding the Simba as the movie started, Whizzer with an odd smile on his face.

“What the-”

“Told you,” Kevin shook his head as his friend looked over at him, eyes wide.

“Why…” Connor was giving Whizzer a concerned look.

“Don’t worry, it’ll make sense later. But now do you see why we fell when we saw the doll?”

“Fucking heck, yes,” Connor cautiously let his attention go back to the movie screen, cuddling into Kevin as he did so.

Arnold was clutching the Yoda, almost as if unable to believe what he was watching. Nabulungi seemed to be handling it okay, obviously not too into the movie but doing better than Arnold.

“You okay?” Kevin asked the man in his arms, who nodded his head slowly. He looked over at Arnold, the same question in his eyes. He received wide-eyed nods from Arnold and Nabulungi both. “Okay. If you want to, we can turn it off,”

“No… No, it’s okay,” Connor whispered, snuggling into Kevin more.

“Okay,”

Once the movie was over, Connor, Nabulungi, and Arnold were all staring at the screen with open-mouthed horror.

“They… they let him… die?” Connor couldn’t seem to believe the ending was really what happened.

“Yeah?” Whizzer looked at the three of them, almost seeming concerned but also amused.

“Why? He didn’t… okay, so he wasn’t the best, but did he deserve that?”

“No, not really. But isn’t that the point of the movie?”

“I… I guess,” Connor looked away from the television, looking at Kevin almost as if for confirmation. “And they made a sequel?”

“They’ve made, like… seven of these? Eight if you include the Jigsaw movie. I might be wrong, though, I’d have to look it up,”

“How? They killed… they killed him,”

“...next we’re watching Cooties, then Insidious.”

“Those should be okay, they’re… I mean, Cooties is a little… weird, and gory, but it’s not like this. It’s more humorous. But we are not, under any circumstance, watching that movie.”

“Which… oh, that one. Yeah, no. I don’t think we even have that one,”

“I don’t think we do either, but I wanted to make sure that you knew that we’re not watching it.”

“I wasn’t planning on it. It’s not… no. I’m with Kevin on this, we’re not watching it,”

“Watching what?” Arnold looked to his friend for the answer, tearing his eyes from the tv, credits still rolling.

“A movie that we aren’t watching. We don’t even have it,”

“What is it called?” Nabulungi couldn’t look away from the television, still unable to believe what she had just watched.

“Doesn’t matter, it’s not important,” Whizzer waved the question away, answering it as kindly as he could.

“If you say so,” Connor let himself relax, Kevin hugging him as he did so.

“Are we going to sleep in here tonight?”

“Sure, why not. It’ll be fun?” Whizzer looked around as he asked.

“It’s too crowded. I think I’m going to go back to my room or something, if that’s okay with everyone else,” Kevin started to get his pillow and get away from Connor so he could leave the fort, but was promptly tackled by Arnold and Connor, Whizzer shielding the exit so he couldn’t escape.

“No. No one leaves the fort.” The way Whizzer said it was almost concerning, but Kevin knew that the worst that would happen would most likely just be getting tackled to the floor, something they had already done, so there weren’t too many options left for them to choose from.

“Please, let me go. There’s not enough-“

“There’s enough space. We can all fit in here,”

“No, we can’t,” Kevin knew that arguing was useless, because the fort had been made so all of them could fit in it.

“Yes, we can. We all fit in here when watching the movie, and we all fit in here now.” Connor gave him a look as he spoke, as if daring Kevin to insist that they couldn’t all fit in it again.

“Fine. But only tonight.”

There were cheers all around, Connor hugging Kevin tightly as he accidentally knocked the other man to the floor.

“Sorry, I…” Connor tried to untangle himself from the man he had somehow ended on top of, stopping when the situation set in.

He was on top of Kevin.

They were, or had been before he tried to get up, as close as they could’ve possibly gotten.

If Connor were to lean down just a little bit, or Kevin if were to sit up just the slightest…

Connor mentally shook his head as he got off of Kevin, looking away from the other man.

“We can move things around if we have to, do we already have all the pillows and blankets we’re going to need to sleep in here?” Whizzer made sure that everyone had what they needed, choosing not to say anything about what had happened between Kevin and Connor.

“Yeah, we should,” Kevin nodded, starting to help organize the fort so they could all sleep in it. Once they had it organized, Whizzer decided to climb out, pulling Kevin with him, saying that they’d be right back.

“Where are-”

“What happened?” Whizzer looked his brother in the eyes, pure concern in his own.

“What… do you mean?”

“What happened? All of it. From the start of the mission. Please.”

“Oh. I… Okay.”

And Kevin and Whizzer sat on Kevin’s now bare bed, Kevin launching into the tale.

“And I decided that since I needed to do something incredible, I had to go to the General and convert him. I… that’s how I got a copy of the Book of Mormon shoved up my ass. It was… it wasn’t… I still can’t look him in the eyes without just… fear. Pure fear. It was one of the most terrifying things to happen to me. I was able to go to the Doctor, Gotswana, and he… was able to help. That’s how… the coffee. I drank twelve cups of coffee in one setting.” He continued with the tale, staring at his fidgeting hands, Whizzer nodding along as he did so. He told his brother about what Connor had said happened when he was a child, after the Steve Blade Incident, as they called it, Whizzer suddenly understanding why Kevin seemed so protective over Connor.

“And since then, we’ve just been trying to help the villagers. Some of the elders have all gotten pretty close. Like Elder Th- Poptarts. Elder Poptarts and Elder Church, they’re both pretty cool, I’ve been talking to them a lot. They’re… the only ones I really feel comfortable trying to talk to outside of Connor and Arnold? I don’t know why. The other elders just… I can’t seem to get close to them. Arnold, Nabulungi, Connor, Chris (Poptarts), and James (Church) and I usually watch movies every Friday and we talk a lot.”

“Wow. That’s…”

“But I’m just… I’m scared. Whizzer, I’m… I’m really scared,” Kevin looked up into his brothers eyes, tearing them away from his hands. He felt like a young child again, admitting to fear to his older brother.

He could almost see younger Whizzer, hugging him close and whispering that he could sleep in his room that night if he wanted.

But that’s not what happened. They were older. They were different.

And it wasn’t the same kind of fear.

“I know. I know. It’s okay. Kevin, listen to me: It’s going to be okay. What are you scared of? Is it the general? I’ll kick his ass if he hurts you, yeah?”

“It’s… it’s not just that,”

“What is it?”

“I… I don’t… Connor? Yeah. Connor.”

“You’re scared of… Connor?”

“No! No, I’m not scared of Connor. I… I actually really like him?”

“Yeah, because that wasn’t obvious enough,”

Kevin felt like the room was heating up when Whizzer said that, looking down at his hands again. “I… but I… I’m scared? I just…”

“What are you scared of?”

“Is it normal?”

“Is what normal?”

“This. To not… not want?”

“What… don’t you want?” Whizzer was trying to figure out what his brother meant, already suspecting what it could be but not too sure.

“That. You… you know.”

“Sex?”

“I’m… I’m not against it. I just… don’t particularly want to do it?”

“Kevin-”

“But i don’t know if I like Connor in that way because of it and if I do and if by some miracle he likes me too and we start dating-”

“Kevin, calm down. It’s normal.”

“Wh… what?”

“You’re trying to say you don’t feel sexually attracted to people, right?”

“I… yeah. Yeah,”

“That’s not something bad. There’s lots of people like that, actually. It doesn’t mean you don’t like Connor and can’t be with him, it just means that you don’t want to… bang him.”

“Yeah, but… what if my fut-”

“They need to respect your boundaries, then. It’s not really like you can control it. If they’re not willing to respect your boundaries, they’re not worth your time.”

“If you… say so,”

“Kevin, look at me. If they don’t respect the boundaries and make you uncomfortable, they’re a dick. They don’t deserve you.”

“Okay,”

“There’s a word for it. If you want to look it up, or… so you can… you know, tell people, if you want,”

“Oh… okay. Yeah. What… what is it?” Kevin was clearly shaken up, but seemed to be doing a little better upon finding out that there was more people like that.

“Kevin, you’re asexual. Ace. You’re a hardware store. A card. I’m going to be honest, I’ve suspected it for a while. Since before I was kicked out.”

“I… I’ll look it up later,”

“Good. From what you’ve told me, I’d say you’re probably definitely ace. Is there anything else?”

“Yeah. I’m scared for Connor. And the… General still scares me, but we already said that. And I’m scared that this is all a dream and I’m going to wake up and you’re going to end up dead in an alleyway and we won’t know for another week because we had no way to know,”

“Kevin, look at me. This is real. I’m here. I’m fine. Connor’s okay. Arnold and Nabulungi are okay. They’re all out there, and they’re waiting-”

“Do I annoy them?”

“I don’t think so. Arnold seems to think you’re the greatest thing since, what, sliced bread? Connor’s absolutely enamored with you. Nabulungi seems to think you’re pretty okay too,”

“Okay. Okay. Sorry. I… sorry.”

“It’s okay. Nothing bad’s going to happen. And if someone does try to hurt you, or Arnold, or Nabulungi, or Connor, I’ll kick their ass, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Kevin smiled a little, laughing softly as he remembered Whizzer saying something similar to that when they were younger and he had first started taking Karate.

“C’mon, let’s go. You need sleep, and I’m sure everyone else does too,”

“Okay. Thank you,”

“It’s no problem. Now, let’s go back to the living room so you can cuddle with your not-boyfriend,”

“...I really want to argue, but I’m not going to.”

“Good.”

And with that, the two brothers went back to the living room, climbing back into the fort and settling into the spots they had chosen. Kevin was a little surprised to see Arnold was the only one awake, but when Arnold told him how late it was he wasn’t surprised. The movie had ended at about ten thirty, and then Whizzer and Kevin had gone and talked for over and hour.

“They fell asleep not too long ago. I’m going to go to sleep too, if that’s okay,” Arnold was still hugging the Yoda as he spoke.

“Okay, that’s good. We’re going to sleep too,” Whizzer had already gotten under his blanket, rolling over so he could go to sleep.

Kevin was next to the already-sleeping Connor, who seemed almost… uncomfortable. Kevin considered trying to wake him, but he wasn’t sure why the other seemed uncomfortable, so he settled for hugging him (practically laying on him) and pulling a blanket over the both of them, burying his head into the other’s arm.


	15. Author's Note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm probably going to delete this later

Sorry, I really hate these too

But uh...

I think I’m going to pause updating Orlando for a couple weeks, as I forgot I was writing it for like... a week... which wasn’t my greatest moment, I’ll admit

And I have some stuff going on right now, that will, hopefully, by a couple weeks, be sorted out.

Thank you so much for all the support you’ve given so far, and I do definitely intend to pick the fic back up in a couple weeks, especially if all goes well

You’re free to send in oneshot requests, and I can most likely get those done, but right now the multi-chaptered fic is a bit too much

As I said before, though, I do plan to continue it, but updates won’t come for a couple weeks because I don’t know how long it will take to get chapters out while I sort everything else out.

Thank you so much, everyone, I really appreciate it


End file.
